


Vaulted Youth

by Vandel_Ize



Series: HammerSpike [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Aria and Camilla are here too, Friends to Lovers, Leon is already Champion, M/M, Morpeko is evil, No Encores, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Team Yell (Pokemon), Twins, family Is little and broken but still good, like super slow, megane squad, rape warning due to Piers mentioning his past, really slow burn, set 10 years in the past, team yell is like a highly organised dysfunctional family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:15:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22586218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vandel_Ize/pseuds/Vandel_Ize
Summary: This story covers from the time Raihan and Piers first meet as teens, all the way up to Piers retirement at the end of the game. Focuses mainly on Piers, Marnie and Raihan but most of the other characters do make solid appearances due to this including the boys taking on the gym challenge. Will also be expanding on Galar's lore due to it's many delightful plot holes.  There is some nsfw planned but I’ll be keeping those chapters separate from this without effecting the story's flow so you can avoid it if you choose.
Relationships: Kibana | Raihan/Nezu | Piers
Series: HammerSpike [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1625182
Comments: 19
Kudos: 87





	1. New Beginnings

“Tch shit” Piers cursed rubbing his swollen cheek with the back of his bloodied hand, spitting to the side as he shielded Marnie. They’d been cornered by a group of five low lives from the old gang Team Yell had recently run out of the city. Piers’d be fine if he struck out but he couldn’t leave Marnie unguarded, and his pokemon was at the centre getting healed, he was down on options and starting to panic ever so slightly.

One of the brutes approached to his left “come on lil wannabe leader, let’s have some fun eh?” his sultry grin make Piers want to gag.

Piers gritted his teeth suppressing a growl “look...you guys can do whatever you want to me, just let the girl go”

“Now why would we go do that?” another more lanky punk questioned cornering Piers's right.

“I can make it worth your while” Piers offered as he brushed his neck piece. 

“Heh, we're not fallin fer that kiddo” the band of thugs chuckled, one of them suddenly launching out at Piers tripping him up and another grabbed a hold of Marnie, the young girl cried out reaching back for her brother. Piers was trod back down into the dirt the moment he tried to reach back for her. Piers blood ran cold as he felt the cold edge of a blade against his neck "now now, don't be too hasty mate, we're just gettin started"

A rustle of nearby bushes was the only warning they got as a teen about Piers age launched himself fully at one of their attackers, biting the guys ear and scratching at his face before launching towards the other who'd drawn the knife, tackling him off of Piers, the blade skimming the skin of his cheek as he took the man down in a wild rage. Piers took advantage of the chaos and struck at the man holding Marnie, the young girl bit the man's hand, surprising him enough for her to wrench her wrist free. Piers was quick off the mark kicking up some dirt at their eyes and striking at their feet tripping them up.

He was about to launch at them some more when he felt his wrist grasped “Let’s go!” the feral kid yelled tightening his grasp on Piers and hauling Marnie over his shoulder with ease running into the brushwood he'd launched out from, a wild almost manic grin on his face. Hearing the shouts of their attackers, Piers cast a concerned glance at Marnie only to see her giggling and couldn’t help finding himself laughing at the absurdity of it all, as he allowed himself to be led far away from their would be attackers by the stranger.

The three of them ran and ran until they could run no more and both boys collapsed, heaving for air as the adrenaline wore off. 

“well...I...I think...I think that we lost em ughhh” the strange boy heaved, gasping for air between his words. 

“Y-yea….” Piers near whimpered, winded from the run and nursing his injuries. He winced feeling something cool against his cheek and noticed Marnie had handed him the water bottle she's been carrying, He gave her a warm smile and he sipped as it gratefully. Glancing sideways towards their companion, he offered up the remains of the water “...ya really helped us out there...erm-”

“Raihan!” the boy chimed, downing the water in the blink of an eye.

Piers regarding him silently with a guarded and sceptical gaze “I’m Piers, n this lil miss is Marnie”

Raihan looked concerned at the youngest and bowed his head “Sorry bout the rough trip there miss, you ok?”

Marnie shuffled nervously sniffling a little but nodded, walking forward to touch Raihan's cheek concerned for the cut that was still bleeding out a little.

“Awww you worried bout this? Heh it’s all good, not the first scuffle I’ve been in an not that last” he placed his fist against his chest proudly and Marnie giggled at the gesture whipping away some of her tears. Piers was somewhat stunned at Marnie’s boldness, she was normally far more reserved around strangers but he suspected, given what had happened, she felt she owed it to their would be saviour. He shivered thinking about what might have happened back there but shook his head free of those thoughts as noticed the darkening sky, feeling the chill on set of the evening air hit him. 

“It’s gettin dark, we should go get ourselves patched up, probably crash at the centre tonight” he murmured more towards Marnie. She nodded wandering back to her brother's side looking back at their new companion.

Raihan looked around the area somewhat unsure “...I’m actually kinda new round here, mind if I stick with you both until morning?”

“Thought I ain’t seen ya face before” Piers sighed and scratched at the side of his head looking down at Marnie as she clutched to his shirt shyly but nodded “I suppose we owe ya tha much though” he gestured for the boy to follow em, amused at the almost yamper like semblance in his expression.

Finding their way to the Spikemuth pokemon centre, the Nurse Joy on duty paused and looked between Piers and Marnie with exacerbated expression. She looked as though she was about to begin berating them but lit up in mild surprise to see another face with the duo “Oh, now who migh' this be?”

“My names Raihan miss, pleasure to meet you” he bowed flashing a charming toothed grin.

“Well now, aren’t ye a well spoken young lad” she smiled, “We don’t 'ave much in the way of normal comforts 'ere at our centre but feel free to make yerself comfortable durin ye stay” she bowed and went about her duties.

Piers sighed in relief and quickly lead Raihan down the back hallways. The walls were worn, the paint work chipped and graffiti littered some corners, the lights that worked were dim buzzing with the occasional flicker. It was obviously to anyone who looked that the place was run down, Piers watched Raihan closely trying to gauge any form of judgement but the other teen didn’t seem phased in the slightest, content to just follow in silence. 

They entered a room that vaguely looked like a shared kitchen and laundry space. Marnie reached up and grabbed a beat up yet well used medical kit from the bench bring it over to the two boys and then left the room, Raihan watched her looking back to Piers who was already sifting through the kit with his good hand “Dun worry bout her, we’re regulars here, shit” the teen cursed a bit under is breath fighting with a bandage. 

“Let me” Raihan grabbed Piers wrist and set about cleaning it up and dressing it, Piers had immediately gone to rebut the offer but Raihan had set about patching him up with such proficiency that he was left too stunned to stop him. He inspected the dressing when it was complete and marvelled at the near professional workmanship which added more questions than answers to his growing roster of curiosity. “Let me patch that up then” Piers gestured to the cut along the tanned cheek, the blood now dried and flecked with dirt. Raihan just shrugged and sat dutifully letting Piers works on him, having the damaged hand defiantly didn't help his proficiency at the task but if Raihan had any complaints he didn't voice them. When Piers pulled back Raihan tapped the patch and smiled. 

“Here” the two boys looked to see Marnie was back and offering them both a lollipop, she already had one of her own and had changed cloths “Nurse Joy gave em ta me” she offered at Piers questioning gaze. “Hot water today” she gestured towards the bathroom with a small smile. They washed up and wandered to the familiar part of the hall towards a very worn looking couch. Piers pulled out the thin blanket that was stashed under one of the couches ends as Marnie scrambled up onto it, making herself comfy, Piers took his seat allowing Marnie to settle her head onto his lap. She breathed a long worn out sigh as she nuzzled closer to her brother and was asleep within seconds. 

Raihan had silently been watching the exchange before he took a hesitant seat next to Piers, when the other teen didn’t seem to mind he leaned in a bit closer “Must be hard” he stated gesturing to Marnie in a hushed voice.

Piers was silent for a while “well...she’s all I’ve got” he responded in a small voice.

Raihan hummed at that, gazing up at the ceiling “guess I’d do the same if I had any”

“Orphaned then?” Pier inquired, now curious about the mysterious teen. 

“Mmm not exactly, it’s a bit more complicated than that, doubt you’d believe me though” Piers turned his head giving him an incredulous stare, Raihan had to struggle to hold back his laughter “well I suppose we got time to kill right”

“You don’t have ta if ya really dun wanna” he murmured brushing a hand through Marnie's hair absently, watching as Raihan withdrew slightly.

“Nah, it’s fine” Raihan smiled, but didn’t seem to reach his eyes “well then, guess I’ll start from the beginning, I’m from Heonn, apparently I'm a descendant of the Draconids tribe or something” he paused hesitating slightly but continued ”my birth was married with a lot of misfortune or so I’m told, and bein the people of belief they are and what haves I was left abandoned in the Meteor Falls, left as some kind of offering to appease the dragon lord” he air quoted the dragon lord with a roll of his eyes “but guess fate had other ideas for me cause I was found by Lance.”

“Wait...you don’t mean that Lance?!” Piers questioned in disbelief, the story had already been outrageous enough from the get go but the legendary dragon tamer?

“Yea, that Lance” Raihan shook his head “I don’t recall much of any of that though, apparently there were words had between him and the tribe leader and they settled on having me banished from Heonn instead of left for dead. From as far back as I can remember I’ve kind always been shifted from home to home since, shacked up with other dragon tamers, so never really had much of a place to call my own, and well yea not much in the way of family soes to speak, till now anyway” he stated casting his gaze out the window towards the distant silhouette Hammerlocke.

“Till now?” Piers inquired, still not quite sure he could or should believe any of the story he’d heard but was interested to hear the other teen out.

“Apparently ol man Wyerm is steppin down as Leader of Hammerlocke and my name somehow got thrown into the mix of possible replacements, all it took was a word from Lance, some papers and I was shipped out. Naturally I sneaked out to explore the first chance I got” he grinned, chuckling softly. 

“N' that’s when ya ran into us?”

“Yeap, man the ol man’s gonna skin me when I eventually go back ughhh but not all bad I guess, I’ve made an awesome friend” he beamed.

Piers looked away flustered “I dun remember agreein to tha!”

“Awww come on, I’m pretty awesome you know!”

Piers chuckled and elbowed him in the side, careful to not josel Marnie too much “Yer full o yaself mate geez...bu I suppose keepin ya around wouldn be all tha bad”

Raihan's smile could’ve lit up the darkest of caverns and Piers felt himself having to turn away from it. 

“Still that’s a hard story ta believe, heck that’d make ye the new vault guardian at that too” Piers mused.

“A Vault what now?” Raihan asked in bewilderment.

Piers just stared at him back dumbfounded “Ya really got no clue bout Galar do ye?”

“Nope!” he chimed tilting his head sheepishly flashing his toothed grin “care to teach me?”

“Well...I ain’t no expert on it but I can give ye a crash course on what I know”

Nurse Joy smiled from down the hall, watching the two youths converse. She waved off two team yell clad punks she'd called in just in case, they'd all been worried at first about the wild look of the newcomer but it appeared Piers had taken a liking to them and she was content to leave them be. Piers instincts when it came to people had always been right on the money, she’d learned more than once the trust in the young lad. 

Night went by and morning slowly crept in somewhere along the line the boys had fallen asleep leaning against one another, Marnie curled up between them. Somewhat groggy and sore, the smell of food bade them into a semi state of alertness. Three sets of begrudging foot steps made their way into to communal area where a large pot of curry sat. Piers poured out three bowls and they each took a seat upon the floor, the curry was milkery level at best but neither of the three complained, downing the meal and giving thanks. 

Fighting off the last grasps of sleep, they all readied themselves for the day with Piers collecting his Pokemon from the centre desk as they walked out “Well I think it’s about time we headed off, the others will be wondering where we've gone” Piers yawned still not yet fully awake.

“Yea, guess I gotta face to music sometime too” Raihan whined and then he pulled out a very worn looking flip phone “mind if we take a picture? It's not the best camera, but this is a memory I'd like to keep" 

"Ye ok Marnie?" the little girl nodded and the three of them crowded in together and he snapped the shot. Raihan looked it over seemingly satisfied and reach out to Piers “here gimme your number, I’ll send it to you”

“Heh, how smooth” Piers grinned taking the phone, looking at Raihan with a smirk as he added his number.

“What?” Raihan tilted his head unsure.

“If ye just wanted me number ye only needed ta ask” Piers winked handing his phone back. 

Raihan blushed and shook his head “No no no, I mean well yea but no!” Piers smirk darkened at his reaction and Raihan ran off looking back with a determined look in his eyes “Oi, when we meet up next time let's have a battle okay!?” he waved.

“Don’t go crying when you lose!” Piers chimed an equally determined look in his eyes waving back along with Marnie. As Piers and Marnie were heading back to one of their hideouts, Piers felt his phone chime, opening it he smiled looking at the caption below the picture _to new beginnings - Raihan_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t see Piers as particularly angsty, the guy is just dead tired of everything, raising his sister on his own, running a band, forced to be gym leader when he doesn’t want to be one, leader of a gang and runnin a city, I mean most of us struggle to balance work life and fam life how the fuck does he even do it all? I've made his teen self be a bit more relaxed for now but trust you me, we'll be getting into the joys of adult life hitting him later on. Age wise the boys are in their mid teens with Marnie being 5 ( she doesn't have Morpeko...yet! ) Anyways this is the first fic I've written in a while, I'm positive this has grammatical flaws to the teeth. I appreciate any feedback, let me know anything you'd like to see, etc.


	2. The fuck are you?

Raihan’s return trek back to Hammerlocke was a slow one, he wasn’t in any particular hurry and he wasn't exactly sure where he was going either. He'd been retracing his steps and pausing by a berry tree he recognised, he stopped to give it a shake picking up a few oran berries before hearing a voice calling out his name. 

“Sir Raihan!!” Raihan watched as a boy, slightly younger than him, ran towards him "Where in Galar's name have you been?!" he shouted, clearly very agitated. 

“Just wanted to check out the place some” Raihan shrugged as he tried to catch a read on the guy "You alright there, erm uhh, Sebastian wasn't it?"

“Well at least you recall that much, but you were gone all night? We’ve been looking everywhere for you!” the boy snapped.

“Seriously?” Raihan questioned but noting how resolute Sebastian looked, hung his head “Sorry man, I’m not used to anyone really caring where I go, I’ve gotten pretty good at taking care of myself you know” he chuckled trying to lighten the mood “...how mad is the ol man anyway?”

“That’s Master Wyerm to you, Sir Raihan” Sebastian accosted, adjusted his glasses in a displeased manor “and to say he carries the rage of an entire pod a Gyarados would be under selling it”

“Yikes” Raihan hesitated, looking back up at the castle “well, may as well take me to him and get this over with” he stated rubbing the back of his neck nervously as he resigned himself to his fate. 

Raihan was lead through the town and into a hidden side door within the castle walls. Raihan was still blown away by the scoop of it, having lived with other dragon tamers he'd sure seen his fair share of castles but this place took the cake! It was also a nightmare of a maze, but it made sense now as he thought back to Piers telling him about how Hammerlocke was basically a forte back in the day, apparently there were hidden rooms and treasure vaults stowed all about the town that people had yet to uncover. Something he mentally noted to check out later as they entered into another large hall way, stopping before a set of imposing doors. Raihan marvelled at the carvings of legendary dragons on it as Sebastian knocked "enter" a booming voice echoed. The young draconoid gulped as he was lead in, the heavy atmosphere hitting him full force as he was stood before a large desk desk where the master stood, his back turned to both youths.

Sebastian bowed low "Sir Raihan, my lord"

"You are dismissed" the cold tone belaying a cold fury the sent a shudder down Raihan spine. 

Sebastian nodded walking out, leaving Raihan to stand alone. The Master stood silently at the desk keeping his back faced to Raihan.

The silence ate away at the boy and he clenched his fist "look I- ugh!" Raihan yelped as the forceful backhands struck him hard enough to send him to the ground. He took a moment to recover before finding his way back to his feet “yea, I deserved that” he murmured around his aching jaw, the injury from the previous day adding to the pain. 

The man was silently watching him with a cold, calculative stare “You deserve far more than that, but as are new here allow me to make things very clear as you did not seem to catch them previously. Until you’ve proven yourself worthy of taking the oath of Vault Guardian you are under my rule, my supervision at all times, you will not leave these walls again unless you have express permission, understood”

It wasn't a question, Raihan gulped, the man’s words were sharp, chiselled with precision, leaving him no way to get a word in edgewise. His shoulders drooped and he nodded.

"You’ll spend today cleaning the left wing dragon roost as amends for your thoughtless act. If you are unable to have it cleaned out by lunch you will forgo the job and your lunch and continue on cleaning it tomorrow morning and the following until it is of a pristine standard. You will also be expected to return to your quarters daily, where you will begin your tutoring will be at 1pm sharp, your historical lesson will begin thereafter, you will be allowed a dinner break, then your night classes will begin and then report to the training hall for observation 8pm sharp.”

“Yes Sir” Raihan was mentally reeling trying to make notes of everything. 

“Good, Aria will be escorting you to the left wing, you best take note of where you are going for I will not have them fetching you, understood?”

"Yes...Sir" Raihan nodded quicker than was probably appropriate. 

"Dismissed" Wyerm gave a wave of his hand. As Raihan walked out, he could feel himself being looked down upon and damned if this guy didn't make him feel small.

Exiting the room with a heavy sigh placing a hand over his heart Raihan willed himself to suppress his flight instincts. He wanted to escape to get away from that room, this castle but took a deep breath and rationalised why, if he hadn't ran away the man wouldn't have struck him, if he looked at it that way though if hadn't of run away from Drayden he'd likely still be back in Opelucid City too. A girlish giggle pulled him out of his thoughts and he noticed he was being watched "...Aria?"

"Bingo!" the girl winked "Come on we best be heading off" she trotted on a head with a skip in her step and Raihan struggled to keep pace thrown by the sudden pleasant attitude. 

Once they’d rounded the corner, the girl began to chuckle in earnest “Oh my Arceus, that was a heck of a first impression you set” 

“You don't have to rub it in” he sulked, pulling out his phone to open the notes typing away rapidly. 

“Well you reap what you sow in these walls” she chimed melodically. 

“Lesson learned” Raihan sighed closing his phone, having written most of the important notes he'd need down then looking at his lock screen, he added "...maybe"

“Hah you’re so going to die!” she giggled "Oh we should start a betting ring on that!"

“The great Raihan has been through worse” he boasted, Aria's boundless energy was infectious and he felt himself smiling. 

“I'll throw a tenner in, I give him 3 weeks tops” a similar voice entered in to his right.

Raihan looked up to see, another Aria? then looked to his left seeing the same person again?? He flicked his head between the two clearly confused.

Aria chuckled at his confusion “This is Camilla, my twin sister!” Aria beamed hugging her sister tightly "and I dunno Cami, I'm going to give him 8 week at least, double or nothing?"

“You're on ” Camilla nodded, nudging her sister out of the way “Hope my sister hasn’t been too over bearing”

“Not at all" Raihan smiled "and since you're both against me, I want in, I'm betting I'll make it through all the way!” Raihan declared.

"Oh ho, you talk pretty big, let's see if your bite matched your bark then" Camilla chuckled opening the door to the dragon roost.

Raihan's eyes widened as dragons of every variety either sat perched up high, curled upon the ground or were flying in and out of the enormous facility. Large net like bowls lines the walls from the ceiling to the ground, soft crisp hay littered nearly every square inch of the ground, some had been hoisted up by the dragons, used for nests that sat higher. Bags of berry's were strung up about the area and large perches stuck out from the centre post. Six generous open arched windows allowed the dragons and a handful of bird pokemon to come and go as they pleased. The girls presented him with brooms, pitchforks, buckets, gloves and other various cleaning supplies "Ok, job list for this lovely area is muck it out, fill up their water and berry bins, any damage to the perches needs to be mended and the hay beds need replacing. Help patch up any of the wounded one and clear out any carcasses the larger ones have hauled back, make sure to disinfect the area around it to prevent them making a habit of bringing them back to the roost and make sure to watch out for any nests”

Raihan nodded “The standard stuff then?"

"You've done this kind of work before?" Camilla asked somewhat surprised.

"Yeah, I use to do this for Claire back in the day”

“You know Claire?!” Aria practically squealed eyes lighting up with glee. 

Raihan backed away a bit “Well yea, I stayed with her when I was 8, cleaning out the dragon shrine was a weekly chore-”

“-Aria we have to go” Camilla interrupted, pulling her sisters arm dragging her away "Sorry we can't stay and help, other chores attend to"

“You so have to tell us more about Claire later!! I'm like her biggest fan!” Aria's retreating voice yelled 

Raihan chuckled waving them off. He looked up at the imposing tower and hung his head “the cavern shrine wasn’t as big as this though” he muttered trying to figure out how he’d pull this off. A small family of Trapinch made their way up to him and Raihan smiled kneeling down to pet them sharing the Oran berries he'd collected earlier “Well, I suppose the bright side is, I get to work with dragons, so it's not all that bad” he grinned pulling out a pokeball “Alright Sunny, come on out and make some friends” his Trapinch emerged from it's pokeball, the wild ones were initially wary of it but Sunny had dealt with wild dragons before thanks to Raihan's living arrangements and was playing about with them in no time. The job itself wasn’t all that hard but for one person there was defiantly not enough time. "Pristine condition huh?...I'm going to be stuck here forever"

Hours had passed and knowing he’d be missing lunch Raihan settled for sharing a few berries with the elderly Drampa he'd just finished cleaning and patching up. The poor thing had been curled away in a corner and was so covered in hay and muck he'd almost accidentally gotten it with the fork. It's taken him some time but he managed to coax it out from it cornerand he noticed that it's eyes didn't seem to be working all that well, "Aww buddy did they just leave you like that? Come on, I'll make you right as rain" he motioning in a calm voice. The Drampa slowly extended it's long neck out nosing him hesitantly. Raihan made no move, letting the Pokemon come to him in it's own time. The elderly Pokemon crawled forward a few paces and raised it's neck to it's full height looking at teen, Raihan grinned "Yea you're still super strong I get that" it snorted out a few small embers before lowering it's head again this time nuzzling the young dragon tamer "There you go, see I'm not all that bad" it gave him a rough shove and Raihan fell to the ground "haha ok, ok, I get it, you're a proud one then, will you let me clean you up?" two greying out pink eyes started down at him before it lowered it's head to the ground, resting it's chin and unfurling its wing like arms, relaxing itself for him. Raihan grinned and set to work. 

Letting the elder dragon finish the last of the berries Raihan took a quick glance at his phone and his eyes widened, 12:53pm it read. He bolted up and waved, bidding a farewell to the dragon before Sunny and him made a made dash through the hallway, thanks to a few wrong turns though they were late on arrival and an unimpressed Sebastian was waiting right there for them

“You’re late” he near growled.

"Sorry, that ol Drampa up there needed some serious cleaning and patching up, time kind of got away from me" Raihan admitted.

"...it actually let you near it?" Sebastian asked in shock.

Raihan nodded "Took a bit coaxing cause the poor guys going blind but he eventually realised what I was trying to do, pretty sure he feels a million times better now"

Sebastian looked at Raihan, gauging him with an unreadable expression, but his eyes showed that his mind was clearly racing. He cleared his throat "very well then, take a seat and let's get on with today's lesson"

The lesson began and Raihan was listening intently but 5 minutes in he surprised Sebastian by cutting him off “Sorry to interrupt you but I meet someone yesterday on my little adventure who gave me a run down on the basics of the goings of Galar, you're kind of just repeating everything he told me" 

"All of this?" Sebastian held out the book and handed it to Raihan, the draconoid flicked through the pages and nodded "Yeah, it's almost word for word what he was telling me, we can probably skip this one if that's ok?"

This seemed to impress the other teen “Impressive, I would not think that there were many who'd have read this book as thoroughly as myself, very well then, we’ll focus on more Hammerlocke specifics then, we’ll start by going over it’s foundation starting off with the old world kingdoms” Sebastian grabbed another book without even looking at the shelf and began the lesson anew. Raihan had to hand it to the guy, Sebastian was nothing if not passionate about the subject and that even Raihan found that he was engaging in the session more than he’d thought he could. By the end though his’s stomach was growling loudly and his focus waning as he was practically melting into his desk.

“We'll end this here today. Let us attend the dinner hall, giving your tardiness though, you will be the last to be served”

“Foods food at this point, no complaining here” he groaned extracting himself from the desk, sluggishly following Sebastian towards the food hall. Dinner was mostly uneventful as Sebastian and the twins had their own designated seating area, Raihan was left by himself in the massive food hall. Given that he was new, most of the staff and other employees kept their distance but it was nothing he wasn't use too, but a part of him silently recalled the meal he'd shared that morning with Piers and Marnie. It hadn't seemed like much at the time, but it was the first shared meal he'd had in a long time, well at least with another human being. A small pang of loneliness hit him as he found downing the meal was a bit more difficult but forced his way through it, he was too hungry not to.

Evening lessons were a shared session, Raihan, the twins and some other youths that he'd seen about the castle were sat in a room. It seemed the class was about the current defences of Hammerlocke. The instructor lectured them for a full two hours, unlike Sebastian's lessons though, it was so dull and boring that Raihan had a tough time keeping himself focused. He did however perk up when the instructor started talking about the Vaults "...-Hammerlockes vaults are split into two major section, Upper and Lower. The Upper Vault is open to the public via strict guidelines, those of the Vault Guardians elites may come and go as they please as may those who have respectfully retired. The Lower Vault however is strictly prohibited and is only accessible by the current Vault Guardian, upper management of the Rose guard and those among the Royal elite. The code is changed rather frequently to maintain the highest level of integrity so I would not recommend trying to sneak in, the punishment for doing so is no worth the risk" he made the cutting motion across his throat which pulled a few gasps from the group. Raihan made a few notes to ask Sebastian about more details regarding the vaults later. 

"Man I hate that class" Camilla whined as they made their way down the main hallway.

Raihan had to nod in agreement "I mean, it could be interesting, but his voice-"

"-it's like listening to paint dry right?!" Aria finished.

"Exactly" both Camilla and Raihan replied making the three of them chuckle.

"Well least we get to have some fun now, battle training yee-ahh!" Aria sung out. 

"Poor Raihan only gets to watch though" Camilla grinned back at him in mock sadness

"Eh?! what do you mean I only get to watch?" Raihan looked up in dismayed alertness.

"Part of your training as leader, you get to watch! Best get used to it" Camilla just shrugged walking on ahead

"Sucks to be you buddy" Aria chuckled sticking her tongue out playfully before catching up with her sister

"No way!" Raihan groaned, surely the two of them had to be joking, right?

Much to his chargin, the sisters had not been fooling him. As soon as he set foot into the arena he was directed to the battlefields edge where he was instructed to stand, observe and take notes.

The battle referee walked onto the field "Time to get your game faces on girls, this is a 1 v 1 match, winner is chosen when the opponents Pokemon is no longer able to battle, ready go!"

Camilla called out "ok Vulpix, let's do this", 

"Jangmo-o, let's do our best!" Aria was a bit more hesitant in her throw. 

Raihan stood behind, just to the side of Wyerm, watching Aria and Camilla’s battle. The battle was awkward in Raihan’s opinion, the girls clearly lacked any battle experience, as their commands continuously seemed to clash with the movement of their Pokemon. He glanced up to Wyerm wondering why he’d given no sort of instruction and glanced back to the battle. The ref had no input either and as he glanced about Raihan could see other watching on, but no one said anything.

Raihan waited and waited but his patience soon ebbed and he ended up shouting out “Enough! Geez neither of you are listening to your Pokemon!!”

Both girls stopped mid battle and the other people in the arena paused, all looking back at him in surprise. 

Raihan hesitated for only a second, but as Wyerm did not make any move the stop him Raihan felt embolden enough to continue "Camilla you should focusing on using your Vulpix's special attacks and Aria, your Jangmo-o wants to battle stop making it defend!" 

"Eh, how did you get that just by watching us?" Aria asked in disbelief.

"Anyone could see that, right?" he turned about but the looks he was getting from the other people in the arena was making him second guess that. Undeterred he continued forward “Fine, I’ll take you both on, 1 v 2, I’ll show you what I mean”

Wyerm had been watching the exchange and nodded his head towards the battle referee “I’ll allow for it”

The ref nodded and waved Raihan onto the field, as Raihan found his way onto the pitch he breathed far more easily now that he was in his element here.

"I like your style kid, alright, this is a 2 v 1 match, winner is chosen when the opponents Pokemon on the single challenge side is unable to battle or if both Pokemon from the dual side are no longer able to battle, ready go!" 

The girls both took a step back at Raihan roaring battle cry as he sent out Sunny into the field, a small crowd gathered watching on as Raihan took full control of the battle, thrashing the twins with ease. The girls were honestly stunned as was the crowd but Raihan wasn't done yet as he helped them administer potions to all three Pokemon "There we go" he smiled at them.

"Ok you two, now we're going to try that again but this time try using the advice I shout out to you" he turned to the referee and questioned "that's ok right?" 

"If you want to give your opponent an advantage there's no rules that say you can't" Raihan smiled heading back to his side of the field. 

Camilla stood up confidently and nodded "I'll give it a shot, come on Aria we got this" she said offering her hand to help her sister up. 

Aria simply nodded a bit awe struck but shook her head smacking her cheeks refocusing herself on the battlefield "Right!"

Raihan once again took control of the battle but he commands to the twins helped aid both their Pokemon's movements, making the battle a bit closer this time. He smiled as their Pokemon shook off the battle feint and looked back to their trainers, he could see the connection forming and it made him smile

"Holllly!" Aria exclaimed picking up her pokemon and running up to Raihan "Seems you really do have some bite to back up that bark!" she all but fawned, the dragon barking out in agreement

"That really was amazing!" Camilla added holding onto her Vulpix pulling out a handkerchief to wipe away some of the sand from it's face that Raihan's sandstorm had caused. 

"You're telling us" a few other the staff added now wondering over to hover about Raihan "How did you learn to battle like that??" "how hasn't your pokemon evolved yet?" "can you teach me to become as strong as that?"

Raihan backed up a bit getting overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of questions but still tried to answer them all one by one. 

Master Wyerm smacked his cane into the ground with a sharp metallic clang causing everyone pause "I believe it's time to wrap this session up."

The group calmly stepped back bowing with shared apologies. "Thank you Master" the girls both bowed, heading towards the nurse Joy on hand following her out chatting amongst themselves excitedly. 

"Raihan, you will stay" the Masters voice commanded calmly, not moving from his spot.

As everyone cleared out Raihan was left alone and feeling himself sweat. A small bark caught his attention and Raihan smiled gratefully as Sunny nuzzled against leg. Raihan hadn't had time to quiet figure out why this guy set him on edge so easily. Sure dragon tamers once they reached a certain level had a certain Aura's about them, hell he couldn't survive five minutes within Lance's presence with out being totally enamoured by the guy, even if he was a bit of a jerk, but this feeling of oppression like he was being squashed that he got from Wyerm was something new. He did his best to calm himself down as he waited for the man to speak.

“It would seem you do hold some merit, albeit minute” Wyerm reasoned with an appraising glance he gestured towards the sky "I heard from Sebastian, that you were able to aid the ailing Dramper earlier today"

Raihan nodded. When Wyerm raised a brow, Raihan swallowed but managed to find his voice "y-yea, the old guy is a bit of a handful, but it's nothing I couldn't handle" he stammered out.

Wyerm hummed looking back to the field "the battle just now, what caused you to act?"

Raihan hesitated again but shook it off "Aria's Jangmo-o's scales, it was sounding them off so aggressively just trying to get anyone's attention, it was going to go a bite her out of annoyance so I had to say something" 

"It's scales told you all that did they?" the man's voice clearly indicating that he did not sound fully convinced.

Raihan shook his head in admittance "...not just the scales, it kind of, sorted of like, it's just... a feeling I get" he could feel the Masters sharp gaze settle on him, and so Raihan kept his head hung low avoiding the man's gaze. 

Wyerm eyed the youth for a long while "It would seem the claims to your draconoid heritage weren't a lie after all" he murmured aloud. 

"Huh?" Raihan tilted his head in uncertainly.

"Never mind, you best be sure to tend to your duties at dawn, any reports of tardiness going forward will result in punishments, you are dismissed" the Master tossed his cape leaving the Arena. 

Raihan was exhausted by the time he made it to his room, flopping down onto his bed like a dead weight. Begrudgingly he kicked at his covers until he was able to weedle his was into them, he managed to pull out the pokeball from his pocket and let Sunny out, the little dragon stretched, opening it's gaping jaw wide, letting out a tired yawn "You did great today Sunny, I'm so proud of you" Raihan whispered softly. His pokemon let out a small bark before bearing itself into the plush covers. Turning onto his side, Raihan was able to look out the floor the ceiling window and was amused when he realised he could see the lights that illuminated the outline of Spikemuth. He smiled and pulled out his phone snapped a picture of it, annoyingly it took a few attempts with the dim lighting to get a clear enough shot but he finally got a shot he was happy with and sent it through to Piers 

_‘views pretty good up here’_

_‘Privileged git, good shot though’_

_‘When I’m leader here you can have the room!’_

_‘Pass, who knows what you’ll have done to it by then’_

_‘Well on that note, sweet dreams”_

_‘Fuck off’_

He chuckled closing his phone, Raihan reached out warping an arm around his Pokemon snuggling close to it, finally falling to sleep with a small smile on his face.

\---

Piers shook his head placing his phone down returning to strumming away at his guitar, winding down for the day.

Returning to Team Yells main hide out, Piers found his morning had been a whirlwind of countless members of Team Yell ambushing him n Marnie with worried concern and fussing over the two of em as word had spread fast about the ambush. Ryuki had all but crushed them in his embrace, yelling something about _how dare such filth touch his precious babies_ and Piers had had enough and snapped and went about showing why he was the leader of this sorry gang of boorish doats.

Having calmed them down enough, Piers had set about sending out a few small groups to see if they couldn't track down the rouges that had the balls to attack them as well as taking note on feed back from a scout that had returned form the north about another smaller bunch of rouges. He'd also set aside some time to sit with Marnie and run here through some of her schooling. Not having the access to the facilities or money was no excuse in his eyes for having her fall behind and he spared no expense on his time or others to devote to her education properly. Dinner time had soon approached and as always, it was a full on ruckus at the main hideout as they always held nightly communal meals. Not everyone in Spikemuth could afford to eat a decent meal, so it was a silent agreedment that everyone in the team pitched in what they could, so that everyone in the town could eat at least one good meal a day. Drinking was also a common occurrence at this event and Piers was hardly going to police them on it, so long as they didn't cause the locals trouble, he left them be. Once things were winding down Piers, Marnie and others would pitch in the get the place cleaned up. Once Marnie finally fell asleep did Piers find anytime for himself. 

Tonight he had a tune in his head so rather than sleep he made his way towards the back room that had been set aside for his band. Picking up his well used guitar to strum mindlessly away at it until his phone had gone off. He hadn't expected any messages from Raihan but a part of him was glad he had, not that he was going to admit it.

“You seem happy” commented the crimson haired guitarist taking up a seat beside his leader

“Do I?” Pier mused seemingly bored as he went about tuning his guitar, knowing full well he wasn't fooling Ryuki in the slightest.

“Must be the newbie that Joy’s been talkin about eh?”

Piers rolled his eyes ignoring him 

“Sooooo…?” Ryuki had gotten comfortable now and was staring at Piers expectantly.

Piers sighed setting aside the guitar and let Ryuki know about what he knew about the new kid in town. Ryuki ended up leaping out of his chair

“Leader o Hammerlocke?! Fer real? That stick in the mud of a Worm is finally steppin down, that's about bloody time!” 

“I know.” 

“What’s your thoughts on the newbie ‘en?”

Piers raised a brow “Guy straight up took a knife te ‘es face fer me n Marnie, wha de think I think, eh?”

“Ahh, an idiot then” Ryuki nodded solemnly, not missing a beat.

Piers snorted “Exactly.”

“So, you keepin em around en?”

A small smile pulled at the edge of Piers mouth as he picked up his guitar again “Yea”

Ryuki’s amber eyes watched him closely _‘couldn’t be...nah’_ he thought before picking up his mic “Alright let’s belt out a good one! **Yeaaaaa-Aaaaaa!!!”**

\---

A week had passed and Raihan collapsed upon heavily his bed. His everything hurt, mind, body and spirit and all he really just wanted to curl up into his bed and never leave it again, but he’d survived the week from hell and Wyerm had granted him leave of one day, a well earned glimpse of freedom, 24 hours of just his own time. Raihan wasn’t going to waste it sleeping though, he was just itching to get out the castle, explore again, so, with some effort he pulled out his phone and sent a message

_‘Battle tomorrow? y/y’_

_‘Route 7, berry tree @ 11a, be rdy to lose’_

_'but I never lose'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope the jumpin from POV wasn’t too jarring! So glad to finally get started on Raihan's Megane squad, I made the excuse for Aria and Camilia having the same model in game was that they're twins. Chapters title is inspired by the youtube vid I had to look up to remind myself on how Ryuki spoke, lol.
> 
> Also the Sir Raihan thing is more a play on Sebastian calling Raihan Kibana-sama in the Japanese.


	3. Friends, huh?

Piers had been staring for a good five minutes now caught somewhere between bemusement and concern. Upon reaching the predetermined location, he’d noted the outline of the familiar human form, planked face down, unmoving on the ground. A well worn, Trapinch hoodie was tossed over to hide the person's upper body and pulled in close about the figures head. _‘this idiot coulda been mugged and killed a hundred times over by now’_ Piers thought as he nudged the body in the side with his boot. When met with only a begrudging groan the monochrome haired teen shook his head in wonder “So...wha ‘appened to ye” Piers gestured to the comical amount of bandages and patched that covered Raihan’s legs.

The form shifted as Raihan peaked out from under the dark cove of his jacket “Successor training is hell, I hate my life, please end me” the boy whined out. He’d been out here hours earlier than they’d planned, having not wanted to risk being caught by anyone he’d actually left at dawn. Slumping against the cool ground, the smell of the grass and the soft breeze had lulled him into snoozing and he was mildly annoyed at having been awoken but perked up upon hearing Piers “an you?”

Piers dropped onto the ground beside the other boy “Life is ‘ell, but I’ll burn ‘n it thanks, least til Marnie s’old enough, then by all means, end me” he turned to face Raihan, both boys staring at the other in silence before they both broke out into laughter unable to keep up the serious atmosphere. 

Raihan emerged from the hidden cavern of his hoodie sitting up and looking about Piers “Lil miss’s not with you today?”

“Nah, we ain’t been able to track them bastards down et, rather play it safe fer now” Piers eyes quickly glancing cautiously before glancing back to Raihan, noting more bandages on his arms and some solidly bruised points .

“I’d like to see them try again, next time I’ll really take off an ear and then some“ Raihan growled out, raising his hand like a threatening claw.

“In that condition?” Piers mused giving him a smart punch to the side.

Raihan's whimpering cry making Piers smirk smugly “no fair” the wounded dracanoid breathed. 

“Ye sure ye even up fer battling?” 

Raihan shot up immediately, tossing his jacket on swiftly “Of course I am! Oh, but, I forgot to mention, I only have one partner right now, you good with just a one on one battle?”

“No arguin ere” Piers shrugged casually making his way to his feet.

“You almost sound bored”

“Naw, I’m kinda excited actually” Raihan looked up at Piers again, though his expression was the same bored one he’d started to know him for wearing, Raihan noticed the air about him seemed to buzz. “N’ways follow me” Piers gestured his head towards the far off tunnel nearest to Spikmuth.

They walked in a peaceful silence, nearing the tunnel that divided their two towns. A small curve tugged at Piers lip as he led them into his favourite battle ground, stopped as they reached the middle.

“Why the tunnel?” Raihan voiced in wonder.

“Audio mate.”

Raihan gave the teen a quizzical stare at the odd reply before looking down noticing a chalked up field drawn upon the bitumen path. Piers stepped away making his way to the opposing side and readied his pokeball looking back “You ready?”

“Totally!” Raihan jumped back to the opposite end of the field.

“Well then” Piers closed his eyes and when they next opened Raihan’s breath caught, a fire had been lit in those emerald orbs a maniacal grin stretched across the pale faced youth _“You dare to challenge me even though you’ll lose!?”_ the screaming lyrics echoed about the tunnel.

Raihan tripped up, was ...was this guy actually singing? Maybe it was just a battle cry? he thought and grinned deciding to answer with his own roar **“Time to bring the storm!!** Let’s do this Sunny!” 

Piers smirked gesturing towards Raihan in a theatrical display “Alright Dusty! _Bring my enemies into the eternal abyss!!”_ a dark blazed zigzagoon leapt out of its pokeball producing a sudden smokescreen, clouding the field.

Raihan grin widened, baring his fangs his fearl gaze matching Piers he roared striking out in a fierce display “Sunny, _let’s whip this battle up a notch_ , Sandstorm!” 

The two pokemon danced about each other in the cloud of smoke and sand, clearly in total sync with their trainers. The keen battle commands of each trainer echoing throughout the tunnel, neither one backing down as the storms intensity peaked.

“Come on Dusty! _I love you, I’m cheering for you~_ **Let’s. take. him. dooown!!”** Piers voice turning to a near demonic screech on the last four words, turning his thumb down in time with his lyrics. The Zigzagoon danced along with it’s trainers lyrics and launched into a powerful takedown through the raging storms landing a critical hit! The Trapinch was launched across the tunnel, landing heavily against the wall with a wailing cry.

Raihan faltered running towards his pokemon “Sunny, hold it together!” The little Trapinch tried it’s best to gain it’s footing back but swayed falling down with a small cry. 

“Shit, sorry I dun usually go all ‘ut like tha” Piers gasped running over, reaching out to stroke the dragon, his touch gentle and concerned.

“You can stop fooling around now you blighter” Raihan chuckled bitterly giving the dragon a flick. Sunny shook off it’s daze barking, nuzzling happily into Piers touch.

“Yer seriously ok after tha?” Piers asked staring at the dragon in bewilderment.

“Well of course, we’re strong too you know...but” Raihan crossed his arms in a huff “I can’t believe we lost!”

“Ahh ye a sore loser en?” Pier chuckled as he got a shove for that and leaned back into Raihan to gode him “Funny, thought ye said you never lose eh?” he smuggly shoved Raihan back.

“That’s cause I never lose” Raihan chuckled wiping away a frustrated tear as Piers leaned back from him “but damn Piers, you’re both really strong!” Raihan exclaimed giving Dusty’s ear tufts a ruffle “and you can really belt out a beat too! That was amazing to watch, even without the music I could kinda hear the beat, you’re a total pro!”

Piers flustered under the praise looking to the side fiddling with his collar charm nervously “well yea, I kinda am”

“Seriously, like on stage and stuff?”

Piers nodded shifting silently. 

At Piers silence Raihan decided to nudge him a bit with his elbow “So...you got any plans?”

Piers brain halted and stared back at the other teen in confusion “Huh?”

“You know, plans for later today?”

The pale youth let out a breath he hadn't realised he’d been holding, the jaring change in topic making loose work of his words “Not really, band ain’t lettin me touch me guitar gain til me hands fully recovered. Cordin to Jimmy, I sound like n ol meowth scratchin at a steelix’s hide” he grumbled.

Raihan physically winced at the description “Damn, no wonder they kicked your ass out” Piers gave him a kick to the rear in response and Raihan was unable to hold back a painful shout as it set off the other weeks worth of injuries.

Piers eyes narrowed in concern “Seriously though, wha in Arceus name ave yeh been up te to be in tha condition?” 

“Hmmm, I’ll tell you if you join me for a trip to the wild area?” Raihan offered with a hopeful grin.

Piers paused giving the dragonic teen a stern look “Ye ever been there?”

Raihan shook his head “Not yet, but I only get today day off and I want to try and catch a new friend for Sunny here!” the Trapinch snapped it’s jaw energetically, looking up at Piers together with its trainer with hopeful expressions. 

Piers started down at the dragon before looking outside the tunnel towards the horizon “With the weather t’day, there’s probably only one, maybe two spots we could get te” Piers tilted his head towards their battle worn pokemon “we’re gonna need te get ese two healed up first”

“You’re the best Piers, and we’re totally battling again once I have my new partner!” 

“Tch, yer such a pain” 

“That’s not a no” Raihan sang out, laughing as he dodged Piers next incoming kick, running on ahead towards the easter Hammerlocke centre with the broody teen hot on his heels. 

Reaching the pokemon centre Raihan grinned as Piers gasped reaching the counter. The chase had fast turned into a race between the two and the effort Piers had thrown in to catching up with the young tamer had all but exhausting him. He handed his pokeball along with Raihan at the counter and they were offered to take a seat while they waited, of which Piers greatly accepted, while Raihan had opted to opening his phone to play a game while they waited.

“Say…”Piers said, in a voice so hushed that Raihan wasn’t sure he’d said anything at first “why didn ye ask me to prove it?” 

“Hmmm?”

“Ye know, the singing n stuff? Ye wanted te know righ?” 

Tilting his head in thought Teal eyes met Green as the clear ringing of the game over screen played “...you didn’t look like you wanted me to ask, so I didn’t” Raihan shrugged closing his phone he looked up towards the counter as the chime of their healed pokemon rang out “that was quick, I’ll go get them!” Raihan trotted off to the counter and started chatting away with Joy, the conversation of what, Piers could not make out.

Piers just sat watching them, not moving from his spot becoming a bit lost in his thoughts. _‘A friend huh?’_ No one had ever called him that before. The closest he’d had until now was his band mates, but that was just a group of musicians sharing a common goal, outside of the band sessions they rarely hung out, well except when they needed each others help for something. There was Team Yell, and sure, it was like an extended family. He knew them all by name, knew near everything about most of em, but could any of them be counted as his friends? He shook his head looking over at Raihan who was flashing that stupid toothed grin of his waving at him. Piers rolled his eyes flipping the middle finger at him as he made his way over _‘a friend for the sake of being friends huh…guess it wouldn’t hurt to try’_


	4. A lost dragon

“So what kind of team are you looking at putting together?” Raihan asked. The two teens were in a Taxi together, heading towards the meetup spot in the Rolling Hills. Given their current teams strengths, Piers has deemed it a good starting location and Raihan had arranged the ride out. 

Piers had been looking out the window at the scenery. He cast a sideways glance to Raihan at the question and shrugged “Most folk o’ Spikemuth specialise in dark types so dun see why mine wouldn’t” he offered looking back out at the hills below “suppose being a dragon tamer you’ll be going dragons?”

“Well I definitely want more of them but” Raihan shook his head “I’m thinking of changing up the old dragon tamer way, as strong as dragons are they aren’t immortal but I reckon with the right support they could be”

That got Piers attention “Hnnn ‘ow so?”

“Mmmm that’s where I’m stuck” he threw his hands up admittedly “I’ve been looking at move sets but I haven’t found any that sit right with what I’m trying to do”

“Hnnnn, well yer pretty battle keen, sure it’ll come to yo-ack!!” both teens lurched sideways as the taxi grounded roughly at a slight angle.

“Sorry bout the landing there lads” the driver chuckled, the Corvikight letting out a series of loud squawks as it’s handler calmed it down before hopping down to right the cart, opening the door with an apologetic nod “Rolling Hill meet up spot, watch your step upon departure” 

“Thank you, we’ll call you again once we’re done” Raihan bowed and the driver waved them off.

“The wild area is huge!” exclaimed Raihan staring wide-eyed at the area.

“If ye’d looked up from yer phone while we was travellin ere ye’d ave seen more” Piers brooded holding his hands up to shield himself from the sun's gaze “bu it’s certainly somethin” 

Raihan tossed out his Trapinch, the little dragon barking out happily seeing Piers, running up to nuzzle him. Piers leaned down to give the dragon a small scratch and pulled out a duskball where his Zigzagoon emerged. The two youths watched on as their pokemon sniffed one another before beginning an impromptu tagging game running to and from their trainers.

“Woulda liked te take ye ta Axew’s eye but we’re unprepared fer tha, so we’ll ead towards lake Miloch today” Piers offered, pointing towards the large lake in the distance. “Sounds good to me” Raihan hummed only half listening as his gaze was captivated by the vast landscape.

Piers began to walk and looked back to Raihan with a piqued expression “So, time fer ye to spill”

“Huh?”

Piers poked one of the many bandaged pointedly, curiosity had been eating away at him since seeing them.

“Oh I did promise you that, haha” Raihan rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly “well some of em are from helping out with training” Raihan filled Piers in on what had transpired during his first night observing the others battle and how he’d been instructed the next day on aiding in progressing Aria and Camillia’s battle prowess, all the while pointing to the various correspond injuries that had resulted from the sessions. 

“But, well, the majority of these though are from accidentally disturbing a Dragapults nest” at Piers questioning stare Raihan continued looking to the side red-faced “it’s been using me for target practice during my morning duties in the dragon roost.” This caused Piers brooding expression to fall as he burst into laughter and Raihan hung his head in defeat “shut your gob, I swear I’ve apologised to them over and over even given them the best hay for the nest and the best pick of the berries but they still haven’t forgiven me” at Piers continued laughter Raihan just huffed “Glad you find it so entertaining.”

Piers struggled to find his composure “M’sorry mate but thas gold” he chortled wiping a tear or two from his eyes clearing his throat “whas with the bruises though, they use wrap on ye or somethin?” 

Raihan’s gaze suddenly lacked its usual cheer as he absently traced a finger over the more painful one “being late to three classes” he shifted a little uneasily “the punishment is getting strung up and being left to think about it.”

Piers stopped mid step “They seriously still use tha’ medieval tech? thas’ kinda sick” Piers balked staring back in disbelief.

“Medievil as it is, thems the rules of Hammerlocke” Raihan he sighed “Well I mea-” a loud screech made Raihan paused mid step looking about “What in th- oh what the hells is that smell!?!” Raihan covered his nose looking down. Pure horror took over as he realized what he’d accidentally stepped on, as a fluffed up purple tailed flared. Raihan’s eyes teared up immediately as the overwhelming odour hit him point blank.

Piers shielded his own face having jumped away “Standin on a Stunky’s tail’s pretty bad luck mate” he laughed more backing away further from Raihan “looks like first catch’ll be mine, Dusty ge’ over ‘ere!” his pokemon, though also woozy and light headed from the Stunky’s fumes braved through it to land a tackle only to be hit back by a sucker punch. “Tch com on get em, Quick attack!” Piers commanded, a blaze of white and black surged forward striking the Stunky squarely in the side, Piers wasted no time throwing a dusk ball banishing the stench. Watching it shake, both trainers held their breath, as the third shake the tell tale sound click of the capture chimed.

“Perfect” Piers nodded retrieving his newest addition, his zigzagoon sliding up against him rolling over to reveal it’s belly. Piers gave it an affection scratch chuckling as it purred out happily “great work there Dusty.” 

“Nice catch” Raihan chimed trotting forward, holding his nose as Piers shoved Raihan away “mate stay back, ye reek somin shockin” Shocked the draconoid looked and noticed even his faithful Trapinch stood a few league upwind of him looking at it’s trainer tentatively “man this week is not my week” he groaned resigning himself to walk behind while the others walked upwind. 

-

It’d been two hours since the first capture and Raihan’s excitement was beginning to wane. They were currently making their way about the shore line of southern area of Lake Miloch when he finally gave out a frustrated shout “Arrrhgggg there ain’t any pokemon anywhere around here and even if there were, this smell would send em running, I’m a bloody walking repel over here!” the young dragon tamer exclaimed with a whine.

Piers couldn’t suppress another snort from his distant spot, upwind of Raihan standing with the guys Trapinch.

Raihan sighed looking down towards his pokemon “guess we’ll be going home empty handed buddy.”

The Trapinch whined back at it trainer “Hey don’t be like that, you’ll just have to be a bit more patient ok?”

The pokemon growled kicking up some dirt. 

“Hey, I am not giving up!”

Piers watched the exchange, looking between the two as a thought came to mind “tha’s righ, ye said yer one o em draconoids aye?”

“Yes…?” Raihan tiled his head 

“Hmmm ye migh be able to elp it then” Piers murmured, his sudden intense gaze making Raihan back up a few steps “Righ, there’s an area we need to go te” Piers looked up to the sky again and nodded “With the clear weather he should be out today, follow me, we’re ‘eadin te the Giant’s Seat”

Piers led the way, pulling his shirt up over his nose to try and block the rotten scent having to keep Raihan closer. As they crossed the bridge he looked about ducking behind some bushes pulling Raihan along with him “Keep yeself hidden, e’ll be bout ere” Piers voice muffled by his shirt, his keen eyes tracing about the field. 

“Ok but do you mind letting me know why we’re here?” Raihan asked looking lost.

“Mmm I know es around somewhere...ah there!” Piers gestured towards the towering wall of rock. 

Raihan squinted his eyes peering closely at the wall and saw it his eyes widened “A Duraludon?! What the heck is a Duraludon doing out here?!” The steel dragon was held up close to the wall, blending into it in an attempt to camouflage itself.

Piers shook his head ”no idea, I came out ere not long ago te get some inspiration, I was singin and it came runnin tawards me, thought it was attackin so I battled it...used Dusty’s smokescreen to make a get away bu...somein didn’t sit right” he gestured towards the pokemon “didn’t try to chase us but was roaring at us n makin a heck of a racket”

Raihan listened to Piers story and looked at the way the pokemon was standing before nodding slowly “probably crying”

“Huh?”

“Can’t see too well from here, but he’s definitely a youngster. It’s odd, these guys usually only live out on in snow of route 10 and they rarely stray from their parents until they’re older, so….”

Piers hissed in realisation “...ye think some trainer went n abandon’d it out ere?” 

“Yeah” Raihan nodded with a sad look in his eyes “I’d say the poor thing was drawn to your voice cause it was lonely”

Piers let out a groan “en I went and battled it when it was just scared guh”

Raihan smiled “It’s ok, he probably doesn’t know his own strength yet either, could’ve accidentally hurt you without wanting too, you made the right call”

Piers found little solus in that “...still”

“Well how about you sing for it now?” Raihan offered.

“Wha?!” Piers covered his mouth silencing his outburst as the dragons head perked up, looking around cautiously.

“Well, if you want me to catch it we’re going to need to draw it out, if your singing did it before I’m sure I’ll do it again” the dragon tamer reasoned “and if it charges you again, I’ll stop it.”

“This is insane…” Piers shook his head but looked out to the pokemon with a determined gaze. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and calmed himself, before walking out into the open field to face down the lost dragon. He hummed as the lyrics to the lullaby he often sang to Marnie come to him _“lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby, Back to the years of ol loo-li lai-lay, I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow, bless you with love for the road that you go~”_

Raihan’s eyes widened upon hearing Piers softer voice, breath catching finding himself momentarily stunned by the performance. The Durludon perked it’s head about immediately letting out a roaring cry as it charged towards the singer, causing Piers words to cease as he froze up in fear. Raihan wasted no time, leaping out of the bushes putting himself between Piers and the charging dragon, letting out a loud shout and spreading his arms in a fierce display. The bulky pokemon skid to a sudden halt, tilting its body, looking between the two trainers unsure.

Raihan reached slowly into his pocket fishing out a berry and offered it to Piers nodding his head towards the dragon. Piers swallowed and hesitantly took a step around Raihan, placing the berry onto the ground nudging it towards the dragon. Slowly, it leaned it’s imposing body down, glancing between the two cautiously before inhaling the berry in one swift movement. Raihan stepped away from them allowing the young dragon to take a few steps towards Piers, the singer looking back to Raihan with a clearly worried expression. 

“It’s ok, he ain’t going to hurt you” Raihan offered, carefreely watching the interaction. 

Piers looked towards Raihan, and then back at the dragon, gulping as it opened it’s large jaw and proceeded to bite down gently on his side. 

Raihan chuckled “Awww, that’s a comfort thing, he likes you”

Piers made a egregious sound “thas great n all but _get.it.off.me!”_ he whined out in a strained voice.

“Sorry, but the lil guy is still a bit afraid of me, you’re going to have to convince him” he chuckled.

Piers hesitated as he reached out to run his hand over the top of the dragons head, confused by the odd metallic texture. After a few more pets and the dragon released it hold on Piers’s side, raising backup to stare at the bewildered trainer. “Look, erm, sorry mate, bu yer a bit outta my league, I ain’t the right trainer fer ye” he gesturing to Raihan “look, eh migh look a bi scarey an smells te high ell bu e’ll take car o ya better than ey could” Piers offered. The young dragon let out a soft growl seeming to have calmed down and curiously stared between the two trainers. 

“Hey!” Riahan gaped in mocked offense but smiled as the dragon looked at him questioningly. He’d just gone to reach out to the dragon a sudden blur shot past, blackening his vision “Guh what was tha” he spat backing up, trying to rub off whatever was that had been tossed at his face.

“Ink” Piers questioned before ducking his head to avoid a shot was also tossed at his face too. A series of high chirps and clicks were emitted as a whirl of pink and purple fused about the steel dragon “ain’t tha an Inkay?” Raihan called out having gotten some vision back. The little pokemon butt it’s head against Piers, pushing the young trainer away from the dragon.

When Piers looked back to Raihan the dragon tamer shrugged “Sorry the draconoid thing only works on dragons, I got no idea with this guy”

Piers took a step away from the dragon and as the Durludon took a step forward back towards Piers, he noted the Inkay’s chirping intensified. Piers repeated this a few more time before it clicked “It's tryin to protect him”

Dusty trotted forward barking up at the Inkay. It hissed chirping back angrily, the zigzagoon danced about and narrowly dodge another toss of ink. The monochrome pokemon stared back up at it’s trainer “Guess we’re goin te ‘ave te battle em if we want to help the dragon en?” his pokemon barked assuming a battle stance.

“Ye’ll be a strong addition te me team, let’s go” 

The Inkay chirped backing up against dragon looking adamantly up at the trainer and Piers sighed, yielding calling his pokemon back and walked over to the uppity pokemon “I get et” he knelt down beside the Inkay “ye been lookin after this lost kid, yer brave fer doin tha, but es goin te be ok now ye dun ave to be fightin no more” he hoped some of what he was saying was getting through to the stubborn pokemon. Durludon reached out biting down on Piers hand. The Inkay chirped and looked up to the trainer wearily, floating up to Piers eye level, it offered one of it’s appendage like feelers and Piers grasped it with a smile “honored te ‘ave ye aboard” the Inkay crossed it’s feelers in a huff as Piers lightly tossed a duskball at it, watching as the ball rocked back and forth before stilling and the tell tale chime of capture sounded.

“So what do you say, want to join me?” Raihan flashed his bright toothy grin at the dragon opening his open arms, his Trapinch barking out encouragement. The pokemon, leaned up, stepping away from Piers to lean into the embrace, biting down on Raihan’s shoulder gently as he had to Piers side “See, there you go” he chuckled all put fawning over the steel dragon nuzzling it while holding it tightly “you and me, we’re are going to be amazing, I just know it!” he exclaimed offering an empty ultra ball. The young dragon bowed its head to the button allowing itself to be captured without a fight.

“Hmmm what’s this?” Raihan questioned picking up a shining red stone that Durludon had dropped.

Piers eyes widened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Progression is slow and will be for a bit longer, enjoy these moments of cute as we sit back and establish the ground work :)


	5. Two Young trainers vs One Hangry Sparky Boi

“What is this?” Raihan wondered aloud staring at the crimson looking, mud covered rock. He ran over to the water's edge to wash off the stone to reveal the shiny, crimson amethyst jewel. 

Piers eyed the stone in disgust “...wishin stars” he hissed, stalking off up onto the bridge.

“Wishing star, huh?” Raihan murmured as he followed Piers while looking down at the jewel with his brow quirked and then shouted in realisation “Oh! We learnt about them in a lesson recently, they’re what causes the dynamaxing and gigantimaxing phasing in pokemon here in Galar right?”

“It’s bullshit, all o it!” Piers spat angrily, turning about to point at the stone.

Raihan jumped a bit in shock, looking at the other with concern “Piers, you ok?”

The teen was all but seething as he shook his head “All people talk about s’the power those bastard things give their pokemon without thinkin bout the consequences. I ain’t ever seen no papers or anythin tha so much as mentions the testin of it. I’ve seen it appen though, I’ve seen what those do te wild pokemon first hand, makes em go crazy with pain and madness! Ells, they even made some band to wield em stars that force the whole process to happen, disgusts me to no end, I could never put me partners through tha” he bristled in an infuriated state.

“You know, now that you mention it, they never mentioned any down sides or the likes during that class either, huh I hadn’t thought of it like that” Raihan’s brows knitted at that thought “aren’t they supposed to grant wishes for the trainer and their pokemon though?”

Piers scoft with a rolled his eyes “Makin a wish on some stones won’t make no ones dreams come true” walking up to Raihan with his arms crossed, clearly still irate “if ye want yer dreams to come true you gotta reach out and grab em fer yer self, like so” Piers gave Raihan a swift kick to the side, effectively punting him off of the bridge and into the lake. 

Raihan’s surprised shout was engulfed by the water as he floundered about, swimming up to the surface sputtering and coughing before shouting out “What the actual hell Piers?!”

“I wished ye’d take a dip te exorise tha stone and damned stench ye ‘ad” he laughed with mirth “and wouldn’ ya know it, it worked!” Piers stood staring down at him smugly.

Raihan looked about noticing the stone was gone. Glancing back at Piers in annoyance he looked just to the right of the other trainer and grinned maliciously “Oi, Sunny, use tackle!”

The little Trapinch, who’d just been silently observing the pair, looked up at Piers with a smile that one could only describe as pure evil. Piers eyes widened in horror as he was shunted back, plunging into the watery abyss. Scowling as he made his own way to the surface, his gaze affixed to the laughing dragon tamer who fixed him with a smug grin of his own. 

“What? I wished for you to join me, wouldn’t you know it, it worked!” the draconoid laughed.

Piers could help the smile that pulled at his lips and gave Raihan a splash to the face “Smart ass” he sighed, leaning back to float atop the water for a moment “we should probably ead to shore though, there’s an ol Gyarados that owns this territory” 

“You shoved me into a Gyarados’s territory, knowingly?!” Raihan all but screeched.

Piers shrugged nonchalantly, “Eh, figured it’d be a walk in the park after all tha dodging practice yer gettin in the mornins”

“Oh hur hur” Raihan drawled as he started swimming towards the shore line with Piers following close behind. They crawled out of the lake and lay up on the grassy shore looking up to the sky peacefully, allowing the sun rays to dry them off. 

“Hey?”

“Mmm?”

“What’s your dream, like the ones you’d want to come true?”

“That’d be seein Spikmuths prosperity” Piers stated clearly “I gonna use my songs to help lead em out of the darkness, tis one of the reasons why I started Team Yell”

“Team Yell?” Raihan leaned up looking at Piers curiously.

“Yea, we’re a group o trainers from Spikmuth, we’re gonna scream n shout, rise up n show all of Galar who we are! Show em all that even a dark lil corner like us can shine s’bright as Wyndon!'' Piers boasted passionately while reaching up towards the sun, a seriously determined look shining in his teal eyes.

Raihan whistled “That’s a heck of a dream”

“What bout you eh?”

“Honestly? It’s silly, but I don’t really have one” Raihan admitted, laying back down to gaze back up at the clouds in wonder.

Piers let out a small bark of laughter “suppose that’s no surprise, ye dun exactly think before ye act alf the time, jus livin in a moment”

“Hey!” Raihan shot back in offence but shrugged it off easily enough “speaking of moments though, you remember how you told me all about Galar that night in the centre?” Piers nodded with a silent hum “where’d you learn all that?”

“Why de ask?”

“Well Sebastian, he’s one of my tutors, was saying the books not something just anyone would read, let alone know by heart, seemed pretty impressed by it all so just wondering...” he trailed off looking over at Piers in hope. 

Piers just shrugged “if tha’s all ye wanna know, I go to the Hammerlocke library sometimes, they dun let us folk from Spikemuth hire out books but we’re allowed te read em. Cause I tutor Marnie n some of the others, I just memorise the books I need fer tha”

Raihan started dumbfounded at Piers “damn mate, that’s amazing!!”

Piers shifted uneasily turning over on his side, looking away from Raihan “not really, I’m jus doin wha I can cause she needs it s’all” he voiced, seemingly detached.

Raihan leaned up again to stare at his friend, curiosity getting the better of him “you uh, you don’t think you’re good enough huh?”

“Corse not!” Piers shot back, staring back at Raihan as if it was the most obvious thing “she should be in school n gettin proper taught, not jus the alf arse shit we give ‘er, I’m fine with doing with out but she deserves better than tha” he breathed heavily, his gut twisting at the admittance and guilt.

Raihan was a bit shocked and had instinctively gone to reach out towards Piers but paused, he’d learned enough by now that the guy preferred his space so he opted to voice himself to the air about them instead “might not be my place to say, but she’s happy being with you, that much I can tell” he offered trying to choose his words as carefully as he was able “I mean I haven’t known the two of you for long, but from what I’ve seen lil miss is damn smart and I dare say a proper little lady, pretty sure she’s got you to thank for that, right?”

Piers was plucking at pieces of grass absently before letting out a weighted sigh “...I suppose that’s true n all but still I...” he took a deep breath, as he suddenly realised he’d never actually worded this fear out loud “I jus dun wanna let er down, dun wanna er turnin out to be a mess like me” he admitted more to himself than to Raihan.

“Would that really be such a bad thing?” at Raihan’s genuine response, Piers started back over his shoulder with a puzzled expression. The dragon tamer grinned that wide toothed grin of his “What, you’re more awesome than you give yourself credit for.”

Piers turned over to reach out, giving Raihan a half hearted shove, “Tch, thas nice of ye te say bu y’know what I mean” Piers shook his head picking at the grass again “s’not like there’s other kids er age in Spikmuth either, she ge’s lonely easily and havin er attached to me all the times jus not right, she’s gotta be able to stand up fer erself, I mean, I can’t promise her I’ll be round fer ever, so I gotta make sure she can take care o erself” Piers flopped back onto the ground looking worn.

“I can definitely get behind that,” Raihan nodded in agreement and hummed, leaning over to look down at Piers with a curious gaze “You ever thought about giving Marnie a pokemon?”

Piers paused mid thought, looking up at the other teen, actually seriously considering the suggestion “I ad, bu could never make me mind up on it”

“Well you got me to help you out now,” Raihan offered enthusiastically, “How about I throw ideas until something sticks?” Piers just silently shrugged so Raihan decided to dive in head first “I’m guessing you’d want to stay with the Spikemuth aesthetic, so how about a Toxel?”

“Nah too much upkeep for a youngin, that an...” Piers leaned up crossing his legs to sit with his back hunched. He tapped the second pokeball that sat on his belt “...one’s more than enough already” he offered with a small wry grin.

“Well you would know best then” the tanned teen crossed his arms in thought once more and then snapping his fingers pointedly “oh what about an eevee?”

Piers shook his head “No guarantee it’d turn te an umbreon though...heck imagin tha rat turnin into sylveon” both teens shuddered in fear at the thought.

A sudden russel from the nearby bushes made both boys still as two bright eyes emerged, a Morepeko jumping out, looking about as it stopped to clean itself in the clearing, paying the boys no heed as it went about its business.

“Hey…” Raihan rolled over, pointing towards the electric rodent “ain’t that also a dark type?” 

Piers also turned about slowly and nodded “they are...”

Both of them looked at each and launched in unison. 

The little mouse raised it’s ears in alarm as both teens launched towards it. The rodent glared menacingly letting out a shout as a thunder shock emitted from it’s body striking the two boys down. The chase was on!~

 ** _Three arceus forsaken hours later_** found Piers breathing heavily, they’d been chasing this bastard rat all over the wild area and had finally cornered the bugger in the Watchtower Ruins. He’d just thrown another duskball in a fit of rage and watched on as it bust open.

“Oh come on!!” Piers shouted in frustration as Morepeko leapt forth, delivering a swift headbutt to the singer, before turning another thunder shock towards Dusty. Piers went to reach for another pokeball and realised with dread, it was his last. 

“Oi, last dusk ball, we gotta make this count!” he shouted out towards Raihan who looked equally if not more worn as himself. Piers gasped noting another coming thunder shock shooting across his field of view and braced himself but Raihan’s Trapinch jumped in to take the hit, easily shaking off the electricity as it pawed at the ground growling out intimidatingly before charging forth. 

The Morpeko's form glowed brightly before dulling to a purple hue, its now crimson eyes glaring at the dragon as it struck forth. 

“Wait, watch out that’s it’s hangry form again!! Piers shouted looking to Dusty.

“Huh?”

Piers’s zigzagoon jumped in, using a counter with a loud, defiant bark. Piers turned to Raihan “Oi, back me up ere!?”

Raihan looked about the area and smirked “gimme a smokescreen then! I got ya!” Piers nodded as Raihan went running ahead. Piers kept the raging rodent distracted before Raihan’s voice shouted out through the smoke haze “Alright Sunny, dig!” the ground beneath the Morepeko shook violently, as the large imposing jaw of the Trapinch exploded from the ground knocking it clear into the air.

Piers tossed the last of his dusk ball’s with a final, desperate throw and both teens watched with bated breaths as the last shake of the ball rattled **_“Just.stay.en.it.you.fukin.prick.bastard.rat”_** Piers hissed out in a chant under hissed breath. The final shake passed and the click of the capture had both of them yelling out in pure frustrated joy.

“Fuckin finally!!” shouted Piers, collapsing to the ground almost close to tears.

“Never again!” wailed the draconoid as he collected the ball, bringing it over to Piers, “have to say though, lil miss’s teams starting off strong!”

“No joke” Piers offered dryly, taking the duskball and bagging it safely, thinking back to the battle he looked up at Raihan inquisitively “Yer pretty good at multi battles en?”

“Huh...multi battles? Never done them before,” Raihan admitted as he leaned down giving Sunny a victory scratch.

“Ye should try em out, that trap ye set up was good” he wasn’t usually one to give feedback, but even he had to admit the move had been impressive. 

Raihan looked down at his partner pokemon with a sudden, excited expression, his mind racing “you know, you might be onto something there”

Piers yawned stretching out, noting that the moon had risen over an hour ago and it was dark out now “We ought to ead back”

Raihan agreed, pulling out his phone calling the driver and they soon found themselves back inside the comfort of the cabin.

“Look about today” Piers murmured after a while, shuffling his feet awkwardly “Sorry bout me outbursts n all...jus...never really ‘ad anyone to throw em at” he admitted somewhat embarrassed.

“Did it help?” Raihan asked curiously.

Piers took a moment to think about that. He definitely wouldn’t have gone trekking across half of the wild area chasing after a pokemon for Marnie if it hadn’t been for Raihan acting on Piers concerns, truth be told he’d felt motionless for a while and today felt like the first step forward he’d taken for a while so Piers nodded “...yea” 

“Then it’s no problem at all” Raihan grinned tilting his head “when you get like that, you kind of remind me of facing a down a mighty dragon” his analogy made Piers give him a stare that just screamed ‘what the actual fuck mate?’ and that set Raihan laughing “Sorry, but it’s a pretty big compliment amoung us dragon tamers” 

“...thanks...I think?” Piers shrugged, which caused Raihan to chuckle some more, Piers turned his head looking out the cabin window hiding a small fond smile of his own. The rest of the ride back was bathed in a comfortable silence, both too worn out from the days adventure and eager to call it a night.

As Raihan exited the cart he turned back a chimed “Thanks for joining me today, that was a lot of fun”

Piers inclined his head towards the castle “Try yer bes to not get too beat up eh?”

Raihan snorted “Compared to that Morepeko, I think the rest will be a walk in the park” which pulled a chuckle from both of them. Raihan waved Piers off as the Taxi took off once more head Spikemuth bound.

The young dragon tamer turned about heading on in for a well needed bath and sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awkward first steps in their newly acquired friend ship


	6. Double Trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually struggled a bit with this chapter in trying to convey Piers struggling with being parental figure to his little sister so apologies if it's a bit all over the joint.

Arriving back in Spikemuth, Piers was greeted by quiet the scene, his sister sat glaring in the middle of the trashed room while his bandmates were all fallen about, exhausted and near tears. Jimmy was sobbing into Grizel’s shoulder, the drummer herself was in a complete daze, meanwhile Ryuki was just barely moving, shakily lifting his head “take er back please” the crimson musician whimpered as he crawled towards Piers gripping his ankle in a plea “ave mercy.”

Marnie was in a foul mood, crossing her arms and deliberately stomping her feet as she marched towards her brother. He sighed wearily, rubbing the back of his neck “hey, sorry m’late-'' the simple apology was enough to crumble her angry facade into tears as she lurched forward, latching onto him desperately.

“-ya left me ‘lone!” she cried out sobbing aloud, sniffling holding onto her brother tightly as she buried her face into his shirt to cry.

“Hey now dun be like tha, ave I ever not come back fer ye?” Piers offered in a soft voice holding her gently.

She sniffled and shook her head into his shirt and suddenly reeled back covering her nose “yek...ye reek s’bad!” her face soured covering as she looked up at her brother in teary uncertainty.

“Guess there’s still a bit on me” Piers mused inspecting his shirt with a shake of his head “we ave some new friends te blame fer tha, you wanna see em?” he offered, trying to cheer her up a little. 

Marnie looked at her brother sceptically turning away in a huff “I dun care” she remarked puffing her cheeks pointedly. 

Piers chuckled softly, he knew this game well and with a knowing smile began walking about his sister raising the new dusk balls “ere I was hopin you could brush out this lil ones fur but I guess I’ll just have to do it alone” he sighed putting on an act noting how her expression lightened some what as she glanced at her brother curiously. 

“Come on out Bandit n ye too Rascal!'' Marnie watched on closely as the Pokemon emerged from their pokeballs. The little Stunky shook out it’s fur, observing the new surroundings curiously, meanwhile Inkay floated about fretting, looking about anxiously. Piers waved over at it “dun worry, ye’ll get te see yer mate again soon enough” he offered the little Pokemon in assurance. 

Inkay offered a snarky chirp before floating off to explore phasing through a wall, Piers rolled his eyes looking down to note his new Stunky seemed far more placid, watching on as Marnie carefully approached it. Bandit sniffed her curiously before it started licking her hand nuzzling against the child, which pulled a giggle from his sister. Bandits fur settled flat and purred as it allowed Marnie to pet it contently. 

Hearing a few begrudging groans, Piers observed Grizel helping pick Jimmy up, the two were still clearly frazzled by whatever had transpired in his absence. Ryuki was making his way around the room sluggishly, tidying up what he could. Piers shuffled feeling a small pang of guilt, he owed them for this and made a mental note about putting in some extra work on the side this week to ensure there’d be extra funds to treat them to something later but right now he had something he had to do first. 

“Marnie, I have somethin fer ye but” Piers leaned down giving Marnie a glance, whispering in a hushed tone “we gotta ave a chat first” 

“Is this one of them life talk things?” she asked whispering quietly back to her brother. 

Piers could feel the tightening of his chest as he nodded “Ye is one of those, ye ok with tha?”

She nodded “we’ll be back soon k Bandy?” The Pokemon offered a small bark stretching out upon the floor making itself at home. Marnie took her brothers hand firmly, leading them towards their not so secret, secret spot “take yer time, yer more fraid of ese en me”

Piers had to smile at that, his sister truly was his rock when it came to these matters but that didn’t stop the growing sense of dread weighing upon his shoulders as he was lead past the chain link fence, behind the boxes that hid an ex maintenance ladder leading out onto the rooftop.

Piers took a moment to take a deep breath of the cool night breeze as he held the dusk ball in his pocket tightly. He could feel his heart beating heavily and he was shaking, how did adults make this look so easy? “Marnie” his voice cracked as he took a shaky breath trying to find the right words as his sister stared up at him with an unreadable expression “even….even though its jus you n me right now, some day yer gonna wan te stand up on yer own, carve yer own path and ye’ll find there’ll be others” 

Marnie shook her head “I dun need others if I got ye-” 

“-Marnie” Piers steeled himself, knowing what he had to say “ye know I ain’t always goin to able to be next te ye” 

Marnie visibly flinched, the words bringing forth an immediate welling of tears which Piers wiped away with a shakily tender touch “an I know ye wanna find others ye can bond with, ey?”

Marnie looked down sadly looking almost guilty, clenching her fists as she nodded.

“When ye find em, they’re gonna be lucky te ave someone as strong as ye there te back em up” he took the duskball from his pocket and offered it to Marnie “one day I know that’ll appen, so let this be yer first step on that big journey o yers”

She looked at the pokeball and then threw herself into her brother's arms and cried “I’m scared Piers” Piers held her close letting a few tears of his own fall “me too Marn’e, me too” he whispered while running his hand through her hair. The two of them clung to each other for a while, taking comfort in one another, quietly allowing their tears to fall. 

“Bu...I suppose I cen elp protect ye a bit now ta” Marnie offered with a tearful smile, flexing one of her arms.

Piers smiled back with his own tearful expression ”Yer the best lil sister anyone could ever ask fer.” He wished he could shield her from the pains of life a bit longer but it’d just put her in more danger with how they lived. He hated this, hated not being able to let Marnie have the carefree life like other kids but he knew all the could’ves and should’ves weren’t a luxury either of them could afford, so he ruffled her hair taking a step forward “how bout we check out yer new partner hmm?”

Marnie smiled brightly, nodding getting up from her seat and took on a practiced stance. Piers noticed it as an imitation of his own and smirked watching the underhand toss and the lil bane of his existence emerge. The little rodent chirped looking up at the two, it immediately scoft at Piers shooting a small spark of electricity at him and the teen bristled “right ye lil blighter, this ere’s my lil sis, she’s gonna be yer trainer, got it?” the Morpeko snubbed him turning it’s back on Piers, clearly ignoring him. 

Marnie’s eyes were star-shocked, approaching the Morepeko in awe “ey there, di my big brother giv ye a ard time?” The rodents ears perked up and it gave the young child a sniff before returning to glare at the elder sibling.

The Pokemon and Piers eyed each other off and Marnie tilted her head in wonder, she dug her hand into her pocket and offered the small Pokemon a half eaten cookie “ye mus be hungry, er ya go” Morpeko’s eyes lit up, happily accepting the treat chewing away at it ravenously. She chuckled “yer jus like my big bro” she poked the Pokemon and it gave her a scowl. Marnie paused and laughed a loud rich laugh, smiling so brightly that Piers felt his worries temporarily melt away.

Morepeko jumped down and danced about Marnie trying to get near her pockets as Piers turned his head having heard footsteps coming up the ladder and noted the familiar crimson spikes popping out to join them. 

The musicians watching on in amusement as Marnie played around with her new pokemon, the little creature was hiding from her amongst the various boxes and debris that littered the roof top and poking its head out every so often to poke at her, she was giggling merrily trying her best to tag the little rodent back in a make shift game of tag.

“Ye finally got er one, a good choice too” Ryuki noted watching the bumbling pair with a smile “so, what made ye change yer mind?”

Piers shrugged looking up at the night sky, closing his eyes to quietly contemplate his answer “I’d say, it was livin in a moment, with an idiot”

“Ah that idiot en?” Ryuki hummed looking at Piers curiously “You two seem to be hittin it off”

“Cause...” Piers was hesitant in his response shifting awkwardly “Cause...we’re friends”

Ryuki’s jaw went slack. Over all the years he’d known Piers he’d never once ever heard the guy call anyone a friend. Piers had a knack for keeping everyone to arms length, himself included, though Piers attained to be part of their wayward family more than anyone, he always kept his troubles to himself which left Ryuki and many others always just that little bit worried about their aloof leader. 

“This Raihan guy must be pretty awesome then” he wondered aloud. 

“I wouldn’t go that far...but I suppose he is something” Piers nodded towards Marnie and the area as a whole “So mind telling me what happened this time?”

Ryuki all but jumped, pointing out dramatically towards Marnie “You ain’t gonna believe it!! She got of hold o yer Scrafty and demanded a battle, she kicked my arse, an Jimmy’s and we was actually trying, my poor babies are so upset and Jimmy’s pikachu is still in shock!” he ruffled his hair in clear frustration.

“She then demanded a tea party, found out she been usin Griz’s bass kit fer storin er stuff, this led to er taking my mic and we had a riff off, did you know she did screamo?! cause we sure didn’t, she slayed it though was mazing and then fell off fer a nap” Ryuki crossed his arms pacing back and forth now.

“We put er to bed en she woke up without us known and when we found her she was drawn up some form of circles and muttering while watchin us, was creepy man, then she just lost it, screaming, throwing things at us demanding that we go bring ye back, was end o days I tell ye!” 

Piers just stared back at the crimson musician and shook his head “I swear these stories of yers get more and more extravagant by the day, ye can just admit that the messenger za‘goons got in and trashed the place again” noting Marnie was resting on the floor and sighed and wandered over to her.

“Ehhhhhhh?!” Ryuki was shocked “I’m seriously not jokin ere!”

“Sure mate, sure” Piers rolled his eyes, scooping his sister up "I owe yer one fer lookin after er though" he offered as he walk past Ryuki, taking Marnie back down the stairs to lay her down for the night. 

Marnie rolled over sleepy reaching out to her brother “Piers?” she murmured tiredly "We'll be ok" she offered a tired smile.

Piers heart pulled and he smiled fondly at her taking her hand "yea, we will" he pulled up the less worn of their blankets to cover her placing a small goodnight kiss to her forehead and brushed his hand through her hair tenderly “n'it might not make sense te ye right now but just know even if I’m not always gonna be next te ye, I’m always there fer ye” he whispered softly. 

He watched with a sideways glance as Morepeko nosed its way under the blanket to snuggle up with Marnie. The Pokemon eyed him back before turning its back on him nuzzling in close to it's new trainer.

“Tch” he scoft, watching over the two of them as their breathing eventually calmed as they fell off to sleep. 

Piers stretched out about to turn in himself but paused to take a picture. 

He sent a copy of the pic to Raihan and labelled it ‘double trouble’


	7. The Makings of a Leader

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I live!

Raihan had spent many sleepless nights in the castle before meetings up with Piers that day. One particular worry playing over and over again in his mind: 

He’d watched on as Wyerm paced about the private study, this particular lesson had stretched on now for 2 hours but his Master demanded near every second of his attention. Raihan was close to exhausted but he was fighting to not let it show. Every word spoken held a mountain of importance and his was determined to prove his worth to this man.

“As you would well know by now, Hammerlocke’s Gym has always been in the top of every circuit to date, even in the bloodied battles of old, we reigned in the high supreme” the Master boasted with pride “and the public would expect no less of a successor, needless to say, failure for you is never an option” the cold reminder sent chills racing up Raihan’s spin and he swallowed at the weight being packed upon his shoulders by that ever intense gaze. The man swept past him, his gait effortlessly carrying him about the room “Becoming the next gym leader, you will be required to set challenges. We’ve always been ahead of the curve, setting up unique and interesting tests for the challengers” Wyerm attested snapping the book he'd been carrying shut pointing it at his would be successor “We are the last trial before the finals, we must push them to their absolute limit! Thus we strive to push ourselves even further, though weather you can remains to be seen”

At the Masters silence, Raihan realised he was awaiting a response. Thinking the lesson over the young dragon tamer pointed to himself “...so you’re challenging me?” he asked in uncertainty, daring himself to meet that Masters gaze with his own. He'd only recently built up the stamina to do so but was unable to hide the slight shaking it caused him. 

“Indeed, your first of many trials to come, if you wish to succeed me, you are to present me with a challenge worthy of a Hammerlocke leader” 

Taking a seat at his desk, Wyerm sat straight clasping his fingers, looking down at Raihan “You will not be without aid either, with the passing of the torch I’ve arranged for Aria, Camilla and Sebastian to be ranked as the new Gym Trainers to accompany you” 

“Huh, what of the current ones?”

“They, like myself, will be retiring”

“So...you want me to instruct all three of them?” Raihan’s voice raised slightly.

“You have issues with this?” Crimson eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Well no, I mean…” Raihan crossed his arms thoughtfully shrugging of the accusing gaze “Camilla and Aria shouldn’t be a problem, but does Sebastian even have any Pokémon, I've never seen him battle or even attempt to try?” struggling to understand what Wyerm was thinking.

Wyerm hummed appraising Raihan with that ever cold stare “Out of the three he is the weaker when it comes to battle prowess yes” his voice monotonous, giving naught in his opinion of the trainer “however his battle knowledge far surpasses the girls in leagues, I’d dare say an even match for yours”

“Huh, didn’t peg him as the type to do battles” Raihan’s brow knitted but he just could not picture it. Dropping the thought from now he moved onto the more pressing matter, the challenge. “How long do I to complete this?”

“No more than four weeks, again I will stress, failure is not an option”

\-----

The time spent with Piers running about the wild area had helped ease a lot of his worries and after returning and having had a much needed bath, Raihan had returned to his study, his worries now replaced with new found determination. 

As he sat at his desk chewing on the end of his pencil he grinned as Piers words repeated themselves over again _'multi battles...I reckon you’d be good at em'_ scratching away at the paper he pulled another book from the tower he was steadily acquiring. Throughout the night he’d trekked back and forth to the library, books strewn about his desk, bed, floor, practically every surface that could house his notes or books was covered. He’d lost track of the hours and at some point had nodded of falling into a deep unhindered sleep at his desk. He'd probably face a punishment or two for sleeping through his first lessons of the day but even that could not effect his spirit, he'd woke up as invigorated and more alive than he'd ever felt before! The final notes lay in front of him, many many scrunched up ideas scattered to the wayside as he held the new material up to the ceiling smiling up at them proudly. A plan, his very own plan, fully drafted up and ready to implement. 

The remaining classes and sessions for the day couldn't finish soon enough, but once completed for the day Raihan stood a front his Masters desk anxiously watching on a Wyerm glanced at the papers, flicking through them studiously, relooking over Raihan's work several times. Eventually he placed the notes down and raised an elegant brow in what one might call amusement if it weren't for that death like gaze he always seemed to carry “I must say, I did not expect you to rise to such a challenge” he paused “let alone make up an actual solid plan, it would seem you are actually paying attention to your studies, I’ll commend you on that” 

“Um, thank you Sir...and well…what do you think?” Raihan pushed awaiting with baited breath.

\---

"YEEESSSSSSSSSSS!!!" the triumphant shout echoed all throughout the castle as Raihan made a mad dash throughout the hallways. Step one on his to do list, take his new team of gym trainers out to catch their Pokémon! No wait that was step 2, step 1 was to find them and inform them he chided himself as he skid to a halt and hurriedly sent out a message to each of them. Raihan's hype only building at each new text as they planned it out, they all were free in the afternoon of the next day, he couldn't wait!

\---

“Now hear me out here, working together with Dragons in double battles!"

Camilla groaned "really Raihan? That's been done to death, boring!"

"Mmhmm but I'm adding my own personal twist" Raihan chuckled from his spot at the front of the empty classroom "We're all going to utilizing weather effects and support Pokémon!” 

The three them stared at him in confusion so Raihan continued “Sandstorm always been my go to and I’ve noticed you twins like to use the weather advantage too, add that together with double battles though and a handful of non dragon types? Now that’d be a true test for any challenger! Not to mention a surprise, who'd ever guess a dragon tamer not using a full team of dragons right?”

"A dragon tamer with a strategy other than strength? get out!?" Aria gapped.

"Hah that sounds awesome! Well I'll give you this, you’re definitely good at commanding the field, if you can show us the ropes, I’m sure it’ll be an amazing test” Camilla chimed. 

“Well if Camilla is in then so am I” Aria nodded shyly “and I mean Jamego-o and me have been growing in leaps and bounds under your instruction already, if you think we can do it then I'll know we'll succeed.”

“I’m totally intrigued, but if we're doing this I want something powerful and flashy to go with vulpix and me!” Camilla pointed with a wink.

"That's very you...I wonder what I should do then" Aria pondered and Camilla grasped her hand and hurriedly began throwing ideas at her sister.

Raihan looked to Sebastian, who just adjusted his glasses “If Master Wyerm instructed my co-operation, I too will see this through” the dryness in his response even dampening Camilla's fiery spirit, if only a little. 

Raihan sighed, this guy was near impossible but they'd all agreed to the plan so that was the first step down. The four of them spent time discussing possibly strategies and input and by the time 3 hours had past Raihan had a good understanding of what was needed for the team...well with the exception of their one particularly stubborn trainer. 

\-----

After their meeting, Aria had pulled Raihan to the side "Even though the Master has asked this of me and we agreed we'd do this as a team, I still want to prove myself to you. Let me take this chance to show you how far Jamego-o and me have come" 

The pleading look in her eye and determination had left Raihan unable to fight, even at Camilla's insistence to join her sister, Aria stood firm stating she wanted to pass this self imposed test on her own. 

And so a week later Aria was waving her goodbyes, she was heading to Winter Hill for a 3 day trek with her plan was to capture a Snover. Having heard her sisters thoughts to use sunny day to her advantage, Aria decided the opposite, she'd fight using hail and snow to equal out their team challenge. It was unanimously decided each of them would work towards specialising in a different weather type, with Raihan as their leader, to aim to eventually be able to battle with all types of weather. 

Sebastian was going to join Camilla and Raihan with their venture, other than that the trainer had given nothing else to work with so Raihan dropped thinking about that particular issue of their team work for now and focused on what he could work with and that was- 

“-Something powerful and flashy, huh?” Riahan clicked his tongue in thought as he sat on his bed petting Sunny, his mind perplexed at Camilla’s request. Was there even such a dragon on the mainland's of Galar? He glanced at his phone noting he had a missed message, must've have not noticed it in all the excitement. Opening it and chuckled at the image Piers had sent of Marnie and Morpeko “hehe looks the lil rat took a shine to her then...hmmm actually maybe Piers might have an idea” he sent a text off without a second thought _‘you alive?’_. It was about an hour later that the response came.

_‘Yea sorry, band stuff, sup?’_

_‘Got a bit of a challenge set, I need to find a powerful yet flashy dragon for a new project and I’m drawing a blank...ideas?’_

_‘Ain’t all dragons powerful?’_

_‘Well yea, but flashie though and probably prone to using fire?’_

_'sec I'll ask a few of the guys'_

There was a long pause and Raihan sighed, he felt like he was dragging Piers into his mess when they guy was probably busy doing his own thing and was about to text him to not worry about it and jumped nearly a foot into the air as his phone began to ring. Sunny barked loudly, and Raihan gingerly soothed him while noting it was Piers calling. He settled himself, taking a deep breath he pressed the button. 

“Oi...fuc- _ **gah! no need to bite geez!**_ ”

“uh Piers? You ok?” 

“-Ryuki!?! give it back!” the indignant shout of Piers could be heard but the voice chatting back to him was one Raihan had never heard before.

“Chill Piercy, it’ll only take a sec!” the rich voice chuckled cheerfully, “Oi mate, I hear ya after something flashy eh leader in the making?”

“Um yea...erm who is this?”

“Ah sorry my bad my bad pal, you’re speaking to the one and only Ryuki, lord of the stage and a dragon tamer specialist!”

“you’re a dragon tamer too?!” Raihan exclaimed excitedly.

Piers muffled voice perked up and Ryuki chuckled again “Nahhh Piers this guys cute, I like him!!” Raihan couldn’t hear exactly what was being said but Piers voice was beginning to shout up a storm. 

“Hehe alright alright, look I’ll have Piers text you the details later but based on what I was readin there I know the perfect Pokémon for ye, now I gotta go before Piers ere blows ‘is fuse, later!” there was more shouting before the phone cut out.

Raihan sat there staring bewildered at his phone before a buzz notified him of a text.

_‘I’m sorry about him’_

_‘Don’t worry haha he sounds kinda fun, did he mean what he said though?’_ Raihan grinned, the prospect of meeting another dragon tamer had him giddy. 

_‘Dun encourage im, is bad enough as he is. An yea, Ryuki says to meet him in 2 days at the Lake of Outrage, I’d offer to introduce ye but I got plans that day, sorry.’_

Raihan's smile fell just a tad, he’d hoped Piers could tag along if only the catch up with him again _‘That’s ok, but we totally have to meet up again soon! Who knows, might have a new flashy addition to show off!’_

_‘heh we'll see, fair warning, Ryuki likes to play games though doubt you’ll mind em...I’ll forward ya his number’_

Play games? Raihan wondered what Piers could mean by that but the prospect of an unknown adventure with another dragon tamer who seemed as passionate as himself about the creatures far over shadowed any worries he had. “I wonder what kind of dragon we’re going to see?...oh geez I need to tell Camilla!” with that he ran out down the halls at light speed.

\---

Piers sighed closing his phone and glancing at Ryuki with a accusing glare “...jus, promise me ye won’t kill ‘im”

“Nah I won’t, he may came back a touch singed but from the tale ye told me of ya tour o' the wild area I’m pretty sure he’ll survive...probably” he chuckled. 

The glint in his sharp shark like grin only made Piers sigh heavily, “honestly, ye dragon tamers are all a touch mad ain’t ye?” 

Ryuki laughed “says one who admittedly baths in darkness for fun?” the red head hummed “but a touch o madness ain’t all bad, be dull as 'eck if we weren’t right?” 

Piers snorted and shook his head, hopeless, the lot of them.


	8. What you might call a Star

With the aid of Camilla and the not so willing aid of Sebastian the trio made their way toward the Lake of Outrage. Raihan cast an eye over the texts from Piers again: 

_‘How will I know who he is?’_

_‘Just take a look for the loudest person you can see’_

The cryptic message had left Raihan wondering but once they neared the bottom of the hill crest he had his answer. The shocking spiked head of red, tipped in white and the matching red singlet top and pants was impossible to miss beside the majestic blue backdrop of the lake. ‘Well, you don’t get much louder than that I suppose’ Raihan chuckled pocketing his phone.

 **“Oi you lot! Over here you three!!!”** loud certainly described Ryuki to a T, the dragon tamer mused as they made their way over to him. 

“Ryuki I presume?” Raihan offered his hand.

“Heh, well spoken ain't ye? But ye that'd be me, the one an only” the red head posed flashing his sharp shark toothed grin taking his hand in a firm shake “I’d dare say yer the lil leader I’ve been told about”

Raihan grinned, this guy's aura was a pleasant change to that of his Masters and couldn’t help but find himself relaxing a little. It was wild, sharp and somewhat untamed, clearly Ryuki wasn’t a fully fledged dragon tamer yet but he was definitely as strong as one and not far off that much Raihan could tell. “That I am, and I must say we’re pretty damn curious about this dragon you've been teasing us about, right Camilla?” he looked back in question but the girl seemed to be distracted. 

Camilla looked lost in thought and was staring intensely at Ryuki “...aren’t you part of that really popular band in Spikemuth?!”

“Aye my reputation precedes me, a fan then?” Ryuki gleamed. 

Camilla shook her head placing her hand up “no no not me but my sister will never believe it!! She’s a huge fan, massive fan even!”

“Want a picture then lass?” Camilla chuckled and nodded with enthusiasm biding him over “gosh she’s gonna kill us all for this!”

“Ahh my favourite kind of fan then!” Ryuki chuckled with a wink as the two posed for the shot.

Sebastian visibly shuffled, watching on intensely, his action not escaping either Ryuki or Raihan’s attention.

“Hmmm your face seems familiar, ave I seen ye before?” Ryuki leered, looming over Sebastian curiously. 

Sebastian cleared his throat backing up and shook his head “I’d say you have me confused for someone else” he quipped hurriedly, brushing past the red head “come now, we haven’t much time, and I shan't let this venture make me late for the afternoon lectures.” 

Raihan could’ve swore he saw a hint of a blush on the tips of the other boys ears as he walked briskly on ahead towards the dock to where a small boat awaited them. ‘What was that about?’ Raihan wondered.

Ryuki let out a scoff, crossing his arms affronted “bit of a tight arse ain’t ‘e” Camillia let out a roar of laughter and Raihan had to stifle his own "Well, that's Sebastian for you" Raihan offered between chuckles as they made their way to the transportation Ryuki had organised. It was a short, uneventful boat ride across the lake that saw the four trainers set on their way.

“So what’s this Dragon we’re looking for anyway?” Camilla asked as they followed Ryuki. The red head was looking about, not even bothering with stealth as various other wild pokemon scattered about the wild area.

“Well the one we’re after, there’s a small clan of em that lives about ere, an illusive bunch they are but they can’t elp coming out to sunbathe when it’s bleeding ‘ot as a desert” amber eyes narrowed and then widened with glee as he pointed excitedly towards the cliff top “see see!! There they are!!”

Raihan’s eyes followed towards a flower bed where a small family of dragons he'd heard of but never seen in person lay basking in the sun's rays “Turtonators!” 

Camilla squealed jumping with delight “yes yes yes! This is the perfect dragon for me, Ryuki you’re a genius!” 

The red head preened under the praise “I know! How can ya get anymore flashie than one of ‘ese kings right?”

Raihan gulped as their excitement seemed to draw the attention of the entire clan, his instincts instantly making him tense up, but a quickly placed calming hand on his shoulder broke him out of it “chill there Raihan, they may look fierce but they’re as gentle as a baby Goomy” Ryuki grinned looking at the dragons lovingly.

Raihan followed the amber gaze towards the cluster of dragons noting none of them appeared alarmed, more curious or uninterested.

“I’ll meet you all back at the boat” Sebastian stated broadly. 

“What? but why?” Camilla half asked, too enamoured by the dragons before them to really care.

“I only came here to see if this unknown pokemon might be of use to me” Sebastian stated matter of factually. 

“You got something again Turtinator’s kid?” Ryuki nearly growled out the words.

Sebastian shook his head “Not at all, they are incredibly noble and caring and make for a brilliant defensive opponent, but that won’t work for me” and with that he turned on his heels and was on his way.

Raihan blinked “so he does have a plan then?” he questioned more to himself, then turned to Ryuki “Don’t mind him, we’ve got orders from the master to follow, guess he’s got his own way of going about it.” 

“The bastard Wyerm right?” Ryuki groaned.

“Yea, you know him?” Raihan asked curiously.

Ryuki remained silent for a moment his hair hiding his face and shrugged his shoulders “tsh who really knows him?” the red head barked out bitterly but with a shake of his head, putting the toothy grin back in place “let’s stick to the topic at hand shall we? Go pick yourself out one of these beauties, they won’t hang around for long so best not to keep them waiting.” 

Raihan’s curiosity burned to know of how Ryuki knew Wyerm, but it was clearly not a topic for now. 

He looked back over the small clan approaching them casually. Many were uninterested, but a few regarded him every so often. One in particular that was close by held his gaze and called out to him as it took a stand. As he neared it Raihan mistakenly forgot to watch his step, he hadn’t noticed the tail of one of the nearby shelled dragons until it was too late and in his effort to avoid it, tripped over his own feet. His misstep sent him tumbling forward, a flail of his hands found it perched upon one of the many spikes of the dragon he’d been approaching, the explosion that followed was immediate. 

Ryuki’s chortling laughter echoed about the field as the dust settled.

‘Shell trap’ the signature move and one and only rule of handling a Turtonator, _**never touch the spikes.**_ He fell to the ground with a deft thud, more mentally wounded than physical, no dragon tamer worth their salt ever lived such a misstep down. The dragon he’d tripped, crowded over him with a worried expression on its face.

“Not your problem” he wheezed struggling to find his breath again, shaking his head to try and knock the ringing from his ears “that was all me, sorry bout that”

The dragon crooned, helping the boy up and fussing about him and turned about making sure it’s clan mates were settled. Once it was satisfied the resounded snap of a new shell set into place upon it’s back and it smiled, flexing one of its small arms in a show of resolve before nattering in it's deep tones. 

“A fated adventure huh?” Raihan couldn’t help but chuckle at the display, the dragon telling him it was fate that led him to touch its shell? He'd certainly heard it all now or maybe it was the explosion fogging his senses “well I suppose if you really want to join me I won’t say no”

The dragon pulled him into a crushing hug resting its head upon his. As breathless as the hug left him the warmth Raihan felt had him sighing with contentment. As light-headedness from the lack of air threatened to make him pass out Raihan struggled to pull himself from the dragons clutched before producing a pokeball from his pocket and held it out, watching as the dragon tapped its nose allowing itself to be captured. With a wry smile he held the ball close "you're certainly a weird one but that fits right in with my crew, welcome to my clan"

His capture complete Raihan looked about "Go on and wait, your little display threw me off, I'm trying to find the strongest one here!" Camilla huffed eyeing Raihan accusingly. "In my defence I didn't want to be in an explosion today" he offered as he walked up the grass trail towards the one large tree that sat at the very top of the cliff. Taking a seat beside Ryuki, they both watched on curiously as Camilla continued to carefully inspect the clan. Sebastian was near the shore line looking back towards the castle, glancing occasionally at his watch which left the two dragon tamers alone. 

As Camilla sent forth her Vulpix to engage in battle with one of the wild dragons, Ryuki cleared his throat.

“So little leader, you know Piers has always wanted to see the castle"

"He has? Well I suppose I could totally not blame him, it's pretty neat once you get over how big it is" Raihan offered in light conversation, looking back at Ryuki.

At Raihan’s bewildering expression Ryuki sighed, _‘give him strength, this ones as hopeless as Piers’_ “I’m saying Piers is free next weekend, he’s been wanting to see you again for a while now”

“Oh right! I’ve wanted to catch up with him too” Raihan beamed “we’re past due for another battle!”

Ryuki paused for a moment, clearly this was not the answer he was expecting and so he chuckled “so you like the taste of defeat?”

“What? Heck no! I’ll beat him this time for sure!” Raihan boasted.

Ryuki smiled slyly “I’m so sure you will, and what will you do should you beat him?”

Raihan tilted his head in thought “...hmmm battle him again I guess? Gotta be a best two out of three to be sure!” Raihan’s toothed grin shone and Ryuki could only hang his head with a sigh, just as he was about to say something more Camilla’s cry of triumph drew them from their conversation. 

“Check it out Raihan!” she all but shoved the pokeball in his face “I bet I got the strongest one here!!” her vulpix was hanging from her shoulder looking very pleased with itself “vul vul~!” it exclaimed. 

"Well guess we'll have to test that during the next training session, takes more than power to beat me" Raihan began in a touting fashion.

"Yes, yes, I've heard it a million times now from you, the bond is just as important as power and I'll show you! My teams going to give you a run for your money next round!" she drew him to his feet pushing him in the direction of the boat "No time to waste now , let's go!"

Raihan gave a hapless look back at Ryuki mouthing an apology which the red head just shrugged, chasing after the pair.

As they neared the sore Raihan looked over at Sebastian “you sure you didn’t want to catch something while we’re here? It’s practically a dragon haven out here, not sure when we'd next get permission to travel out here either.”

Looking about to the sky, his eyes paused upon the flock of Wingulls and Pelipper he’d been eyeing off earlier on the boat ride in “weather effects right, then I guess this will do” Sebastian suddenly tossed a pokeball at blinding speed, catching one of the wayward Wingulls, the chime of a critical capture sounding.

Ryuki let out an impressed whistle. 

“Why a Wingull? Are you going with Rain dance?” Raihan asked curiously as Sebastian collected his prize.

Sebastian let out a grunt, giving a half hearted shrug turning away from the group and walking back to their ride.

"What is his deal anyway?" Ryuki asked sincerely. 

Raihan just shrugged and shook his head “Who knows” Sebastian's cold demeanour and unwillingness to participate in near anything that wasn’t a directive of their Master left Raihan feeling unsure and little more than helpless, was he really doing the right thing? It made him feel unsure if he was the right person for the role. 

“Well, you ever tried just fighting ‘im?" Ryuki's offer pulled him out of his wallowing thoughts. 

“I didn’t even think he had a pokemon-”

“-Nah not that kind of battle, I mean just punching him” Ryuki chided with a punching motion.

That pulled a smile back on his face “Pftt hah! I’d be booted out of that castle so fast” Raihan laughed thankful for Ryuki's blunt input.

The trip back was an uneventful as the trip there, Sebastain remained quiet and Ryuki spouted suggestion on caring for the newly acquired dragons to the others but as the castle gate way stood before them Ryuki paused and momentarily glared up at it before hiding his face behind his hair once more .

"Much as I'd love to join ye all, I got business back in Spikemuth to get to" 

Raihan offered him another handshake “It was really great meeting you”

"Thank you again for the great suggestion! We couldn't have done it with out your help" Camilla bowed. 

"Nah was nothin, you all would've found em eventually" he shook Raihan's hand a bit more gently this time around. Eyeing off Sebastian, Ryuki gave the guy his most flirtatious wink which promptly had the upstart briskly turning on his heels and headed fast into the castle and left Ryuki laughing _'so that's his problem'_ the red head chuckled a bit more and glanced back to the confused expression upon Raihan and Camilla "Never mind me, jus havin some fun, now I'll be expecting ya to raise those two babies like they were my own! You get stuck ye know 'ow to reach me" 

"We will, we promise!" the two chimed. 

With that Ryuki turned and waved as he headed on his way back. 

\---

As Ryuki trotted back towards Spikemuth he couldn’t help but hum out a tune as his mind wandered. In truth, the reason he’d jumped at this chance was to see this Raihan bloke up close himself. A full blooded draconid, it had sent chills over his skin the moment their eyes met. He’d gone into this with every intention of driving him away from Piers or at the very least leaving him with threat of harm should he ever hurt his leader, heck he’d not live to tell about it, but after actually really getting to know Raihan those thoughts had left his mind. 

If anything, he’d been left with the impression that Raihan seemed the more likely to be hurt if anything went array in this friendship the two had started to develope. The guy didn’t have a mean bone in that body, was too kind and friendly for his own good and wore his heart on his sleeve. To think Raihan current hailed from under the crest of Wyerm, to be his successor no less, how the kid had even survived this long was beyond him. 

Crossing his arms Ryuki sighed “so strikingly similar to Piers in so many ways but at the same time so incredibly different” it was baffling him how the two found any common ground but at the same time he couldn’t bring himself to mess with whatever they had either. Raihan had proved himself worthy of keeping around and that was that. 

“Guess we’ll just have to watch and see, but first we mess with Piers juuust a little” his shark toothed grin gleaming with mischief as he made his way homebound. 

\---- 

“Is there anyone you don’t know?” Aria screeched, having sat Raihan down forcefully upon his exit from class as she’d ranted about the picture Camilla had sent earlier that day. She was still limping about with a crutch, a broken ankle, the injury she’d sustained from her time in the snow fields but she wasn’t letting it slow her down in the slightest. The four of them were sitting down enjoying a spot of tea having finished their afternoon classes and enjoying a well needed reprieve. The evening battle classes had been postponed due to one of the instructors being away so they were all free for the night. Sebastian was seated to the side reading, mostly ignoring the gossiping twins but his eyes shifting at Aria's next bout. 

"Now you promised me you'd tell me more about Claire and all your other adventures!" Aria was in full form and there was no way Raihan would be escaping her prying questions this time.

"Ah right I did promise you that, well guess we have the time for a change" he had planned to get out some training with his new team but given the persistent gaze of the twins and even sterner sideways gaze from Sebastian he yielded "You best get comfy then"

Raihan span his greatest tales, telling them all about his adventures in about the various regions of the world, having met Legendary dragon Pokemon, living in the wild with Dragonairs and Dratinis of dragon shrine, of Drasna's home made remedies for dragons and her tales of the legendary pokemon of spcae and time passed down from her grandparents, his days of staying with Drayden and studying at the Opelucid Academy and of all the different dragon types there had to be looked after to keep the harmony. By the time he’d finish the moon had risen in earnest but the other three trainers remained hooked onto each word spoken. 

“You know if you’d told me about this when we first met I wouldn’t have believed you but…” Sebastian started but shook his head closing his long forgotten book getting up to stretch and leaving the room.

“You really have an air about you that just draws strong trainers and pokemon to you” Camilla smiled tiredly. 

“Nah, I’d just say I’m lucky” Raihan waved with a long yawn "that being said, I'm calling it here, but there's plenty more stories to be told another time though" he stated waving the twins off and he fumbled through the corridors. 

Having finally retiring to his room Raihan fished out his phone, checking over his messages and gulped when he noted several missed messages from Piers

_‘What did he do?’_

_‘Look I ain’t sayin I don’t trust Ryu, but seriously he’s strutin bout like he committed murder’_

_‘You alive?’_

_‘Please text me when you can’_

He noted a missed call and cringed. Pressing call, his phone barely made it to the first chime when Piers answered.

“FINALLY!”

Raihan jumped from his semi awaken state “Sorry! sorry, I’ve been-“

“Ye alive thank arceus” Piers gasped out in one breath.

Raihan took a moment and smiled fondly into the receiver “you were worried about me?”

Piers nearly whined “corse I was! You bleedin live on ye phone an Ryuki bein the bastard he is an-“

“-Piers it’s ok, take a breath”

Piers paused and Raihan could hear as the teen drew in a deep long breath letting it out slowly. “Sorry...jes ye the first friend I’ve really ‘ad n Ryu’s damn protective of us Team Yell lot, specially those of us in the band”

Raihan’s smile widened, his heart skipping a beat “you have my promise that I won’t go dying without your express permission then”

Piers stuttered “piss off, like ye need it geez” Raihan could see the image of Piers curled up in embarrassment in his mind and chuckled.

“We good?”

“Ye we good, ‘m fine now” Piers let out a long sigh “go n get some sleep, ye an tha mad idea, gonna need as much as ye can get”

“Mmhmm before that though, next weekend”

“Huh?”

“Ryuki said you’d be free! Come to Hammerlocke and bring lil Marnie!”

Piers pursed his lips “scuse me, I suddenly got a certain band mate to murder”

Raihan laughed “I’ll take that as a yes?” 

Piers let out a gruff growl and the tell tale click of him hanging up made Raihan laugh even more as he sent off a text.

_I’ll see you and little miss at 9am saturday ;)_

It was a while later that Piers reply was sent

_Looking forward to it_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those wonder Ryuki said absolutely nothing when he got back to Spikemuth, just keep his mouth shut and went about like nothing had happened and let Piers go crazy over it.


	9. A brighter tomorrow

It was the day before Piers was due in town and Raihan was walking out of his early morning tutorial session, only to be stopped by Sebastian grabbing his shoulder “This is yours” he produced a small envelope handing it to Raihan “you hadn’t collected it so I was instructed to give it to you.”

“What is it?”

Sebastian gave Raihan a quizzical stare “Your monthly allowance, minus the boarding, food, amenities and tuition fees.”

“An allowance, as in like a permission slip for something?” he asked, waving the envelope curiously.

At Raihan blank stare Sebastian hesitated to ask, “You’ve never had an allowance have you?” with the shake of Raihan’s head, Sebastian could feel the onset of a new headache, “Open it then.”

Raihan shrugged and pulled out the piece of paper and read it over….and then over again, and then over once more his eye reflecting nothing but disbelief “wait, this is-....THIS IS MINE?!” he exclaimed looking back at Sebastian as the realisation dawned on the draconid and he began quivering, hiding his face with his hand trying to force back a choked sob. 

Sebastian stepped back alarmed and unsure of what to do “What’s wrong?”

“I...I’ve never...this, this is more money than I’ve ever had before” Raihan muttered meekly in between a few small sniffles.

Sebastian was speechless as he began to try and understand the situation “I..I’m sorry?”

Raihan shook his head “No...it’s fine, sorry just a bit overwhelmed is all” he sniffed again, wiping back his tears with his sleeve and smiling tearfully.

“Erm well...are you ok?” Sebastian awkwardly offered in console.

Raihan nodded “Yea...I think so...um, so what do I do with it?” he asked, holding up the slip to Sebastain looking much like a lost child. 

Baffled Sebastain shook his head in disbelief “Well if you’ve never had an allowance I doubt you’ve ever set up an account?” noting the ever increasing look of confusion on Raihan’s face Sebastain pinched the bridge of his nose and then adjusted his glasses resolutely “Let’s have it arranged, as for what you do with the rest, it’s really up to you, but I would recommend saving some of it, if you’ll allow me I’ll have that arranged with the account set up”

“Sure, I’ll leave that to you” Raihan smiled gratefully. 

“You’re not even going to ask me about it?”

“No need, I trust you” Sebastain paused, grimacing looking much like he wanted to say something but in the end just nodded “very well then, come with me, you’ll need to sign a few documents.”

\----------------

“A few documents he says” Raihan balked after enduring what he would rank as the top third most boring things he’d ever done. The young dragon tamer sat lounging beside the old Drampa in the keep while looking up at the poketch affixed to his wrist with a tired but awe like fashion. 

When Raihan had proudly produced his only ID as a very old, worn paper document, Sebastian’s glasses had nearly cracked as he forcefully grabbed Raihan by the wrist and dragged him through the city towards the office building situated near the library and wasted no time in getting Raihan’s information updated. That had included officially registering as a pokemon trainer but due to his cross continent travels it’d taken several more documents than intended. Raihan had found a new found respect for Sebastian, the guy may have been a right pain but he knew his stuff, every form diligently filled, filed and sorted. 

He’d even had the guts to correct the counter staffing on a few things. Raihan had been sure the lady across the counter wanted to strangle the guy as much as he had at the time but turned out the correction had actually saved them time and by the end of the exchange not only had the lady laughed along with Sebastain as he made short conversation but she’d even thanked him and offered to shot him a coffee! 

Raihan had been left gobsmacked ‘this guy's social skills are on a whole other level’ he stared in wonder as he found himself presented with a small box containing his shiny new poketch.

“Thank you, I really owe you one-“ Raihan smiled, trying and failing to stifle a yawn “-no way I’d have been able to do that by myself!”

“It was nothing, truly...and trust me, you don’t owe me anything” there it was again, that unsure almost guilty look, Raihan was sure he wasn’t see things this time, “but that did take more time than I’d anticipated, I’ve got be going now, if you do find yourself stuck with the poketch you can ask me during the next tutorial session” and with that he turned about, leaving Raihan to his own. 

Instead of retiring to the lunch hall, he’d found his way into the dragon tower. 

As insightful as the trial by paperwork had been, Raihan felt too mentally worn out to fumble through the jumbled mess of thoughts he had about Sebastian. Each time he thought he finally had the guy figured he’d just throw another curve. The guy was obviously hiding something but as to the whats, whys, whens and hows of it all he had little clue. 

So instead he’d focused himself on the more mindless task of the poketch manual and having set up the basics was now idling scrolling through the features, still blown away that all his info was now on it, banking, ID, phone, insane! He paused at one of the features that showed a small window with avatars or his current team bouncing about the screen. He was quick to set it to default. 

As he scrolled to the next screen that showed his account info he looked up at the sky through the large window and was stuck with a thought. Though he now had money, was there really anything he wanted? He scrolled through to the main screen where he’d set the home screen picture to that of Piers, Marnie and Himself on their first meeting and smiled opening up the messaging option.

R: _Hey there, messaging you from this new poketch, let me know if this reaches you!_

R: _Oh also I got permission for you to come see the dragon tower I care-take, how cool is that?!_

R: _We’re totally battling btw!_

R: _Oh and the twins have picked out this really nice cake shop for us to go see, hope you got a sweet tooth? Figure lil miss does, right? My treat so go crazy!_

R: _Also Also-_

\-------------------------

As a loud bell herald lunchtime on the farm. Piers wiped the sweat from his brow, pitching the fork he was holding into the ground with a grunt as he fished out his phone. He chuckled reading over the several messages from Raihan, there were at least 20 now each as hyped as the last, and sent back a simple message of his own:

P: _Got it._

P: _Sounds great…just make sure to leave something to do for next time_

The next chime was immediate

R: _Oh right!_

R: _Sorry got carried away, there’s just so much I want to show you both!_

“e’s gonna be livin on that bastard thing” Piers murmured but couldn’t hide the smile, as he stretched out his tired joints electing a few notable pops and cracks sending back one final message.

P: _All good, I’m working right now but feel free to keep messaging. I’ll read em later._

The work was tough, his slight build and fair complexion were hardly built for the daily grind of breaking down hay bales for the countless Wooloo here but it sure beat the alternative of working in the mines. With his passion for music only bringing so much to the table right now, there was little alternative for someone on the less than ‘scholarly’ educated scale as him, so you took what you could get. 

Majority of the workers here on the farm were easily twice his age and then some. Most of them preferred to drink near the sheds on break, a rowdy lot not unlike the folks back in Spikemuth. Some days Piers would join them but others, like today, would find him spending his time by the shade of the trees.

That wasn’t to say he was alone at all, in fact there was one particular farm hand who always tracked him down whenever they had break. 

“That smile of yours got anything to do with that friend you were worryin about the other week?” a very familiar broad, strawberry haired youth questioned placing down a plate of sandwiches, small savoury pies and two generous pints of the farm's home brewed Applin cider. 

Piers nodded eagerly helping himself to the food “yea…n’cheers fer the food Milo'' he said in between a bite. Milo was basically a brother to him in every sense of the word barring blood. They’d known each other since they were barely old enough to walk, thanks in part to their Dad’s being great friends. Through their highs and lows they’d seen it all, so when he had been fretting about Ryuki’s little outing with Raihan, Milo had read him like a book and Piers had told the farmhand a little bit about the new dragon tamer in Galar. With any other person he’d find such a skill to read him so easily unnerving but due to Milo’s ever pleasant nature that allowed the farm boy an exclusive pass, “Thought e’d gone an got ‘imself shanked, Ryuki’s nursing some bruised ribs on a part o him being a wise arse bout it” Piers smirked finishing off the sandwich.

Milo laughed fondly at that “Ryu ain’t changed much then?”

“Notta bit” Piers shook his head taking a swig of the drink and relishing it “but ‘ecks, now Raihan’s invitin me over to Hammerlocke, wants to show me en Marnie ‘bout the castle...can ya believe it? Actually got permission to show some rats like us from Spikemuth the bleedin towers?!” 

Milo hummed looking at Piers silently. 

Piers paused mid bite “What?”

“Don’t usually hear you mutter more than a few words on the norm is all, well not since ye know” he shrugged gesturing to the sky with a nod.

Piers paused and placed his food down slowly “...really let it get te me, didn I?”

“Aye, I think we all did” Milo smiled solemnly, taking one of the pies “So, tell me more about him” he bade taking a bite of the pastry.

Piers perked up a bit and went on to tell the farm boy all about his meeting with the draconoid, how they’d spent time in the wild area, the constant texting back and forth, how even Marnie had taken a shine to him “still, cen ya believe e’ stood on a bleedin stunky tail?” Piers laughed. 

Milo couldn’t help chuckling at that himself “Certainly sounds like he’s someone special”

Piers thought about it “...I guess”

Resting back against the tree Milo looked up at the clouds with a thoughtful expression “You taken him to meet ya folks yet? I’m sure they’d be thrilled to meet him, he might even be able to tell ya what’s up with ol Hetfield? What with him being a dragon tamer and all? ”

Piers stared back and actually lent forward and hugged him “Milo mate, yer a genius” why hadn’t he thought of that sooner? 

“Aww shocks Piers” Milo chuckled offering him a gentle pat to the back.

Piers flustered pulling back sharply “sorry...m’blamin that on the good grub”

Milo smiled and ruffled Piers monochrome locks roughly “This Raihan lad must be an alright bloke, he’s doing good for ya”

Piers knocked his hand away but couldn’t hide the small smile as he nodded “e’ is…-” 

“...I’m sensin a but?” 

“Mmm dunno, can’t help shakin this feelin I get around ‘im”

Milo gave him a sideways glance “...mmhmm?”

Piers rolled his eyes “I mean there’s somethin about ‘im that don’ sit right...but it ain’t ‘im per say, it’s more like something else around ‘im, I dunno ‘ow else to put it”

“Like that sixth sense of yours huh?” Milo cheeked.

“Hnnn” Piers took a chug of his drink eyeing the strawberry hair youth with a half hearted glare “I’ll be ‘oldin onto an I told ye so fer that”

Milo laughed and gave Piers a hefty slap to the back near winding him “Righto then!” the farm boy laughed leaving Piers to catch his breath.

“I’d swear ‘e does that on purpose” he muttered savouring the rest of the meal before picking himself up to wash up before the next bell rang out. 

\----------------------------------

After Piers had found his way back to Spikemuth for the night, he’d showered up and was currently patching up one of the pokedolls that his Stunky had torn apart as Marnie made her way towards him holding up a dress “Pwirs, I wanna wear ‘is one, but it needs fixin...s’that ok?” 

“Course it is, here” Piers pulled Marnie into his lap, gathering the dress she’d offered inspecting it before beginning to pin the tear together with expert care “any reason it’s this one?”

“Cause we goin someplace special, an it’s my special dress!” Piers smiled and lent his head on hers as he focused on the task of stitching the dress back together. The owner of herb shop who’d been a close friend of their Mother would occasionally gift Marnie with new outfits from time to time. Her favourite by far was this particular dress. Zigzagoon themed, striped with an attached hood that pulled over the head. It had matching gloves, shoes, and a small plain white pouch, which though rather worn, still looked adorable on her.

Marnie hummed happily watching on as her brother worked “Wha ya gonna wear?” 

“Mmmm jus the usual” his usual being a simple torn up band tee, torn jeans, heavily worn leather boots and a over sized plain black hooded jacket. Marnie looked up at him “Not a stage outfit?”

Piers had thought about that but smiled and shook his head “still on alert fer those thugs, dun need ta be given em an easy target”

“Snot fair” Marnie huffed crossing her arms and Piers chuckled “Nah it ain’t but they’ll get whats comin to em” he pulled the needle forward and bit the last of the thread off and handed the dress to Marnie just as Morpeko wandered into the room. 

“Ya want me to do something bout ye hair?”

Marnie looked deep in thought and stared back at Morpeko as it let out a small chirp and she grinned gathering the small creature up “cen ya gib me ears like Pekky?” she held the rodent up to her cheek nuzzling it fondly.

Piers thought about it “Hmm I cen give it a try” starting off by brushing her hair back into pigtails that looped at the top, pulling the loops and clipping them so they resembled spiked tufts similar to the Morpeko’s ears. 

Marnie bounced up and down with a small squeal. Even Morpeko looked impressed by the result as she took the dress and bounded into their shared room.

Piers sighed tiredly looking at his own hair in the reflection of a smudged up window, he ran his hand through the unkept mess of monochrome. His was only just past his ears now but long enough to pull back into a small tuft. Maybe it was time to cut it again? He twirled the bang he kept to his front and shook his head dismissively.

A chime from his phone pulled a chuckle from Piers, without even looking he knew who it was. With the increase in messages it was safe to say that the draconid had all but fused with his poketch. Opening the message it was a picture of Raihan posing victoriously with his Durladon. 

R: _First official battle: winning!_

An official Pokémon trainer battle? Piers looked over at a box to the corner of the room that held most of his and Marnie’s possessions.

Maybe he should officially register too? Pokemon trainers were entitled to an income provided they won enough battles per month, he still had his fathers old pokegear that could be used for the registration. Maybe he could ask Raihan about it later. 

Marnie bounded back into the room and twirled, showing off her dress and rocking side to side giddily:

“ _Are ya swill breathing? It's ya heart tha's beatin' inside, That keeps us alive_ ”

Marnie had a habit of singing this particular song when she was happy, though she only knew the one verse so Piers smiled grabbing her hands to twirl her around as he finished the lyrics:  
“ _An fer the very first time, We be pushin aside, Everything tha' I see in me eyes, Except fer tha one thing on me mind, That I am alive, Fer the very first time!”_

Marnie giggled merrily hugging him tightly “I can’t wait fer tomora!” her excitement was evident. Piers ran his hand through her hair and smiled “Promise me ye’ll ‘least try an ge some sleep?” she continued to bounce on the spot and sway “will try me best!” she beamed, all but launching back into the room pulling Morpeko along with her. 

Piers smiled and packed up the sewing kit placing it back into the box. He eyed the bottom of the box where he knew the pokegear was nestled securely and on a whim he grabbed it out and stared at it for a while twisting in over pensively, “...Da, I think it’s time...hope ye won’t mind” he murmured placing the lid down on the box before stashing the gear into his bag the morrow.

He wandered into the room looking down at the bed from the doorway, Marnie was curled up under the blanket doing her best to mimic sleep but he could tell she was anything but asleep. Placing a hand to his chest he realized he’d been smiling this whole time...how long had it been since he’d actually felt this good? He stood a while longer before eventually retiring to bed himself.


End file.
